2009 State of the State Addresses Education-Related Proposals by Issue

The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2009 state of the state addresses. To assure that this information reaches you in a timely manner, minimal attention has been paid to style (capitalization, punctuation) or format. To view the documents, click on the blue triangle next to the state. Accountability 9 Accountability--Rewards 1 Accountability--Sanctions/Interventions 1 Accountability--School Improvement 1 Assessment 4 Assessment--College Entrance Exams 1 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention) 8 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention)--Alternative Education 1 Bilingual/ESL 2 Business Involvement 19 Career/Technical Education 10 Choice of Schools 2 Choice of Schools--Charter Schools 5 Civic Education--Character Education 1 Class Size 2 Curriculum 5 Curriculum--Arts Education 1 Curriculum--Foreign Language/Sign Language 1 Curriculum--Language Arts 1 Curriculum--Language Arts--Writing/Spelling 2 Curriculum--Mathematics 13 Curriculum--Science 11 Demographics--Enrollments 1 Economic/Workforce Development 45 Education Research 1 Equity 1 Federal 15 Finance 48 Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost 2 Finance--Bonds 2 Finance--District 3 Finance--Facilities 12 Finance--Federal 14 Finance--Funding Formulas 12 Finance--Local Foundations/Funds 1 Finance--Lotteries 5 Finance--Performance Funding 2 Finance--Resource Efficiency 12 Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures 45 Finance--Taxes/Revenues 20 Governance 10 Governance--School Boards 4 Governance--State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies 28 Health 10 Health--Mental Health 1 Health--Nutrition 4 High School 13 High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates 9 High School--Dual/Concurrent Enrollment 1 High School--Early Colleges/Middle Colleges 1 High School--Exit Exams 1 High School--Graduation Requirements 2 International Benchmarking 1 Leadership 8 Mentoring/Tutoring 2 Middle School 1 Minority/Diversity Issues 2 Online Learning--Virtual Schools/Courses 4 P-16 or P-20 3 P-3 15 P-3 Early Intervention (0-3) 1 P-3 Family Involvement 1 P-3 Finance 5 Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's State of the State Address Accountability, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Invest in quality and accountable education. -- Will not cut back on education. Community Colleges, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary -- Increase funding for secondary education. -- Commit 40 million dollars to community colleges and higher education. Early Learning, Early Learning--Finance, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Increase funding for early childhood education. Economic/Workforce Development, Facilities -- Make creating an environment that provides useful, important jobs my top priority. -- Urge quick passage of the "Illinois Jobs Now" plan, a 26 billion dollar plan to support nearly 340,000 jobs across the state. This plan includes four billion dollars to repair schools and build new ones. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Urge approval of the Illinois Economic Recovery and Tax Reform Act of 2009. The Act includes a sales tax holiday for ten days in August on the purchase of school clothes and school supplies. -- Realize that education is the key to equal opportunity and economic empowerment. Elementary Education, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Increase funding for elementary education. Faculty, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Order state employees to take furloughs of four days. -- Require across-the-board reductions in grant programs. -- Make targeted cost-reductions at every state agency. -- Fix and modernize the state's under-funded public pension systems (e.g. raise the retirement age for new workers and cap cost-of-living increases). Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Face an e11.5 billion-dollar deficit and a mountain of unpaid bills. -- Propose a budget plan that cuts costs and rescues our state's finances while raising ethical standards. -- Appoint a new Taxpayer Action Board to evaluate all state spending and all programs. http://budget.illinois.gov/documents/2009speechbudget.pdf Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius's State of the State Address Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development, Community Colleges, Rural -- Redouble our efforts to educate and train ALL of our citizens for jobs in this new marketplace. -- Continue collaboration between education leaders and the business community, so that training for new and current workers matches the skill sets needed for the innovation economy. -- Focus on rural Kansas communities. -- Announce the first Center for Rural Opportunity recently opened at Sterling College. Soon, centers at Colby Community College and Neosho Community College will open, concentrating on attracting investment, job growth, and business development to our rural areas. At-Risk, Early Learning, Early Learning--Finance -- Propose a new Early Childhood Block Grant, driven by research-based programming and accountability measures, focused on at-risk children and under-served areas. Early Learning, Early Learning--Family Involvement, Early Learning--Finance, Health, Parent/Family -- Extend the state's network of quality early learning opportunities for children by funding pre-natal care and newborn screening, Parents as Teachers, Early Head Start and quality child care. Economic/Workforce Development, Business Involvement -- Issue an Executive Order creating the Kansas Innovation Consortium, charged with overseeing the continued growth of Kansas. Key business leaders will join educators and agency heads to continue expanding and diversifying our economy. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance (Postsecondary) -- Expand the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy, to nearly double capacity, assist with continuing education, and promote residency programs in hospital pharmacies around this state. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Financial Aid, Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Propose $1 million for new teaching scholarships in math, science and technology. -- Provide an additional $3 million in scholarship money to make college more affordable for 2,000 students. -- Propose new state resources for post-secondary education, to lower the costs for parents, students and Kansas families Finance, Kindergarten -- Fund the third year of our investment in K-12 education. -- Propose a fourth year of the school finance plan which includes all-day kindergarten. Finance, Mathematics, Science, Technology -- Fund the Kansas Academy of Math and Science, opening this year at Fort Hays State University. The Academy is to provide students with a strong math and science education to prepare them to enter the workforce; as high-tech industries represent the fastest growing sector of the economy. http://www.governor.ks.gov/news/sp-stateofstate2008.htm Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's State of the State Address Alternative Education, Finance, Safety/Student Discipline -- Increase funding for the Safe Schools program, which promotes alternative schools for disruptive students. Career/Technical Education, Finance -- Continue funding for career education. Early Learning, Early Learning--Finance, Finance -- Propose a larger investment in early childhood education. -- Increase funding for First Steps, a program that helps children get off on the right foot. Early Learning, Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary, Teaching Quality -- Fully fund the education foundation formula. Even in these difficult economic times, that is not negotiable. Must prepare every child to compete from pre-school to college. -- Propose more than 3 billion in state aid to classrooms. -- Continue funding for the Small Schools Program. -- Support our teachers. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Invest in technology, science, and innovation to create the next-generation jobs we need to compete in the 21st-Century. -- Create new jobs now. -- Proposed (several weeks ago) the initial pieces of our Show Me Jobs plan--a series of steps to create jobs and stimulate economic growth. -- Signed (several weeks ago) three executive orders to help spur job creation. -- Proposed a new low-interest loan program for small businesses. -- Create an Automotive Jobs Task Force to revitalize the automobile industry in Missouri. -- Expand The Quality Jobs Act. -- Increase funding for job development and training programs by 38 percent, despite budget problems. -- Ask the legislature to send me an emergency jobs plan before the March break. I'll sign a comprehensive, fiscally sound package. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary -- Create and fund the Caring for Missourians program--an initiative to coordinate efforts between our two and four-year institutions to train our next generation of health care workers. Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Established an Economic Stimulus Coordination Council to ensure that the state is prepared to wisely invest any federal stimulus package funds. Financial Aid, Finance (Postsecondary), Minority/Diversity Issues, Postsecondary, Rural, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Hard-to-Staff Schools, Teaching Quality--Recruitment/Retention, Tuition/Fees, Urban -- Make the dream of a college education a reality for more Missouri families. -- Propose that state colleges and universities receive the same level of support next year that they currently receive. In exchange for the state's continued level of support, the presidents of the state's public colleges and universities have agreed not to increase tuition on Missouri students. -- Introduce and fund the Missouri Promise, which builds upon the A+ Schools Program (allows students at eligible high schools to get their two-year degrees at community colleges tuition free). Under the Missouri Promise, students who take advantage of A+ scholarships may continue at a Missouri public college or university and complete their four-year degree debt free, as long as they keep a B average and give back to their community. -- Continue funding scholarship programs such as the Missouri Teacher Education Program, Bright Flight, the Missouri Minority Teaching Program, the Urban Flight and Rural Needs Program. Finance, Parent/Family -- Continue funding for the Parents as Teachers program. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Face a significant budget shortfall. -- Bring our budget into balance by making difficult decisions, and by making government more efficient. -- Will not raise taxes on families or businesses. -- Face an immediate shortfall in fiscal year 2009 of more than a quarter of a billion dollars. -- Face even larger economic problems for fiscal year 2010. Thus, my budget eliminates or cuts 50 programs and proposes the elimination of more than 1,300 positions (will save nearly $200 million in overhead). -- Appoint a Taxpayer Protection Commission to implement top-to-bottom performance reviews of every agency and program to identify what's working and what's not working. -- Review all long-term government contracts. http://governor.mo.gov/newsroom/speeches/2009/2009_Missouri_State_of_the_State_Address.htm New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's State of the State Address At-Risk, Early Learning, Early Learning--Finance, Early Learning--Readiness, Finance, Pre-Kindergarten -- Continue to invest in Pre-Kindergarten-- to close the achievement gap and help students enter school ready to learn. Economic/Workforce Development -- Form a "Green Jobs Cabinet" to build an aggressive clean energy strategy, so our state educates, trains, and prepares a clean energy workforce. I will issue an executive order directing key state agencies—from education to workforce development, and from economic development to energy—to form this cabinet. Education is the key to a green workforce. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- Propose a four-part economic security plan: (1) Create new jobs, (2) Build a better workforce; (3) Renew our role as an innovation state; and (4) Provide a safety net to catch those who fall. -- Propose a balanced budget to accomplish the economic plan--that targets cuts, maintains needed services, makes strategic investments to create more jobs and does not raise taxes. -- Continue stalled or stopped state projects that create jobs or protect public safety. -- Reinvest funds from stalled or stopped state projects that do not create jobs or protect public safety into this year's budget. -- Increase the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit to help wind, and biomass projects boost their operations. -- Extend a tax credit to small businesses. Elementary Education, Health, Health--Nutrition -- Expand the healthy breakfast program to 270 elementary schools (more than 100 thousand elementary students). -- Provide children healthy food choices. -- Ensure children get physical education. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas -- Change the school funding formula--upon direct approval of the voters. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Draw down the rainy day fund from ten to eight percent---to preserve our high bond rating and help balance the budget. Financial Aid, Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Continue the state's zero-percent tuition credit policy and hold down rising tuition costs. -- Change the College Affordability Fund and the 3% scholarships fund to direct 100 percent of grants to students with financial need. Health, Safety/Student Discipline -- Propose legislation that makes recruiting people into a criminal street gang a crime and makes recruiting a minor into a criminal street gang a felony. Mathematics, Student Achievement, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Preparation -- Improve student achievement in mathematics by increasing the math requirement for new elementary and middle school teachers. Postsecondary -- Find a fiscally responsible way to assure that Santa Fe continues to host a four-year college, like the College of Santa Fe, to inspire and educate our next generation of actors and artists, painters and public servants. Scheduling/School Calendar -- Propose legislation to tighten the school calendar to make sure our students receive a full 180 days of instruction. -- Continue before- and after-school programs. State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Create a Task Force on Fair and Equal Pay (created by executive order) to look for ethnic, racial and gender gaps as well as job segregation in every state agency, and offer solutions for closing those gaps. -- Establish an ethics commission to provide independent oversight of all branches of state government. http://www.governor.state.nm.us/press/2009/jan/012009_01.pdf Vermont Governor James Douglas's State of the State Address Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development -- Enhance economic development efforts and pass the Economic Growth Plan (introduced last fall) in the first 100 days of the session. -- Modernize the permit application process to allow businesses to grow and create jobs. -- Work with the legislature and others to create the Vermont Economic Response Team, which will use available public and private resources to assist companies at risk. Early Learning, Early Learning--Finance, Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance (Postsecondary), Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary -- Balance distribution of state funds among early education, K-12, and higher education. We spend relatively little on early education – are among the highest in the nation for primary and secondary education – and near the bottom for higher education. -- Propose a 20% increase in early and higher education. Enrollment -- Recognize the realities of declining enrollments across the state. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Work with the legislature to establish a collaborative process to design a new education funding system that is simple, transparent and sustainable. The current education funding system is failing taxpayers and local voters and is not sustainable. -- Freeze per-pupil spending for schools and categorical grants at current levels until the new funding system is established. Finance, Finance--Resource Efficiency, Governance, Special Education -- Examine school consolidation, governance, special education costs, and other opportunities to achieve efficiencies. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Expect to have a shortfall of more than $150 million in fiscal year 2010. -- Reduce benefits and cut programs for the next fiscal year – primarily in human services – by at least $150 million out of a general fund budget of less than $1.2 billion. -- Link the general fund transfer to the education fund to changes in the level of general government spending. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Compensation -- Place the obligation for funding the teachers' retirement system in the education fund. This $40 million would leverage $97 million in state and federal Global Commitment money and reduce the need to cut critical programs. Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues -- End property tax subsidies for Vermonters making over $75,000 in order to lower tax rates even further for all payers. -- Collect no more from residential taxpayers next year than this year. Finance, Finance--Taxes/Revenues, Governance, School Districts -- Allow each school district to determine what works best for its students. -- Strengthen local control by holding school districts directly responsible for tax increases. Postecondary -- Integrate the University of Vermont and the Vermont State Colleges into a single organization. -- Charge a working task force with the responsibility to find academic and administrative efficiencies that will be achieved through consolidation of our university and state college systems. I will ask the task force to report with recommendations by November 15th. http://governor.vermont.gov/speeches/Inaugural_2009.pdf P-3 Grades 1-3 5 P-3 Kindergarten 6 P-3 Preschool 4 P-3 Public/Private Partnerships 1 Parent/Family 7 Postsecondary 40 Postsecondary Accountability 1 Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid 17 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees 22 Postsecondary Faculty 5 Postsecondary Finance 25 Postsecondary Governance and Structures 1 Postsecondary Institutions--Community/Technical Colleges 16 Postsecondary Institutions--For-Profit/Proprietary 2 Postsecondary Participation--Access 4 Postsecondary Participation--Enrollments (Statistics) 1 Postsecondary Students--Adults 10 Postsecondary Students--Graduate/Professional 2 Postsecondary Success--Completion 4 Promotion/Retention 1 Public Involvement 5 Reading/Literacy 2 Rural 4 Scheduling/School Calendar 3 Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs 3 Scheduling/School Calendar--Summer School 2 School Safety 4 School/District Structure/Operations 10 School/District Structure/Operations--School Size 1 Service-Learning 1 Social/Emotional Learning and Non-Cognitive Skills 2 Special Education 3 Special Populations--Foster Care 3 Standards 4 State Policymaking 2 STEM 1 Student Achievement 13 Students 1 Teaching Quality 18 Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure 1 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay 25 Teaching Quality--Induction Programs and Mentoring 2 Teaching Quality--Preparation 3 Teaching Quality--Professional Development 3 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention 5 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention--At-Risk Schools 3 Teaching Quality--Teacher Attitudes 1 Teaching Quality--Tenure or Continuing Contract 1 Teaching Quality--Unions/Collective Bargaining 4 Teaching Quality--Working Conditions 3 Technology 13 Technology--Computer Skills 2 Technology--Devices/Software/Hardware 3 Technology--Equitable Access 1 Textbooks and Open Source 1 Urban 2 Whole-School Reform Models 1 799