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 P-3 Grades 1-3 5 P-3 Kindergarten 6 P-3 Preschool 4 Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe's State of the State Address Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development, Finance -- Believe that education and economic development are intertwined and inseparable, and one cannot fully succeed without the other. -- Continue to support the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to attract new jobs and industry. -- Replenish the Governor's Quick Action Closing Fund with $50 million over the next two years, to position Arkansas to be at full speed when the recession lifts. -- Continue to work through the Workforce Cabinet agencies to educate, train, and re-train our workforce. At-Risk--Foster Care -- Work to place more foster children in qualified homes. Early Learning, Pre-Kindergarten -- Continue commitment to pre-Kindergarten. Finance, Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Propose increases in funding for only public education and the Division of Children and Family Services--public education remains the highest priority. -- Reach beyond the legal definition of "adequacy" by providing school districts with additional per-student funds. Add 234 dollars of additional per-student funding over the next two years, and give school districts additional one-time enhancement money of 35 dollars per student. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Postsecondary, Pre-Kindergarten, Summer School -- Prepare students to attend postsecondary education by increasing overall education funding, through pre-k, Smart Core and stronger college prep programs, and now through pilot programs for after-school and summer learning. Finance, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary, Financial Aid, Tuition/Fees -- Improve our scholarship programs so that scholarships reach more students, and the amount of assistance they receive is greater. -- Broaden the GO Opportunities Grant (a need-based financial-aid program initiated in 2007) to include more non-traditional students, to help additional students in two-year programs, and to expand the total financial support available. -- Rectify the dilemma of state merit scholarships never reaching the students who qualify for them. -- Make sure scholarship money remains available once promised to qualified students. -- Open the doors of higher education to students who qualify for both need-based and merit-based aid, while increasing scholarship amounts. -- Lessen and simplify scholarship paperwork, with the State providing a single application listing the college assistance available, rather than students and their families having to seek out their best match for financial aid. Finance, Finance--Lotteries, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary, Financial Aid, Tuition/Fees -- Structure the lottery to be as efficient and as transparent as possible. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary, -- Adjust the higher-education funding formula to stress graduation rates, rather than the number of students that happen to be on campus. Health, Health--Mental Health -- Expand statewide coordinated school-health system to provide new resources and equipment for our school nurses and in-school mental-health services for our children. -- Explore new outlets of care for autistic children. http://governor.arkansas.gov/newsroom/index.php?do:newsDetail=1&news_id=1384 Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's State of the State Address Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Community Colleges, Early Learning, Economic/Workforce Development, Postsecondary -- View education as the number one economic development and quality of life issue. The term "education" includes not only K-12 but also workforce development at state community colleges, commercially viable research at state universities and early childhood education: all in all, lifelong learning. Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Economic/Workforce Development -- Keep funding workforce development and job training at current or higher levels -- Help more of our workers upgrade their skills--the key to economic growth. Charter Schools -- Urge the legislature to expand the charter school law, which sunsets this year. Early Learning, Early Learning--Business Involvement, For-Profit/Proprietary, Pre-Kindergarten -- Support the creation, from the existing pre-K infrastructure, of a program to get children ready for school by age five. The private sector has joined the Department of Education, The Early Childhood Institute at Mississippi State, and scores of pre-school programs – whether church, for profit or not, or Head Start – in this effort. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--Bonds -- Consider job creation the number one goal. -- Ask the legislature for bonding authority for protecting and increasing jobs, upon adoption of the federal stimulus package. Economic/Workforce Development, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures, Finance (Postsecondary), Postsecondary -- Ask legislature to fund higher education, universities and community colleges, at levels that allow it to play the critical roles it has in generating economic growth. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Cut funds of the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP). State revenue for this fiscal year, which ends June 30, is expected to fall between one hundred seventy-five and three hundred ten million dollars below the budgeted level. State law authorizes the governor to cut any department or agency by five percent of its appropriation; however, no department or agency may be cut by more than five percent until every department and agency has been cut five percent. Thus, cuts must be made in MAEP. Governance, Leadership, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Reform state government, to give agency leaders maximum flexibility to run their agencies effectively. Agency leaders need lump sum appropriations and most need relief from Personnel Board rules, if they are to reorganize their departments to do the job expected of them, with reduced appropriations. High School, High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates -- Continue to support the program to redesign high school and reduce dropouts. http://www.governorbarbour.com/news/2009/Jan/2009StateoftheState.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 North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue's State of the State Address Access, Financial Aid, Postsecondary, Tuition/Fees -- Begin the College Promise program to remove financial barriers for access to higher education. Access, Distance Learning/Virtual University, High School, Teaching Quality, Technology, Technology--Access/Equity -- Use technology to modernize the classroom and enable teaching to catch up with the way our kids live. -- Continue to support North Carolina's Virtual Public High School--levels the education playing field for students and assures educational equity. Accountability, Business Involvement, High School, High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates, Parent/Family, Persistence/Retention, Public Involvement, School, Students, Student Achievement, Teaching Quality, Teaching Quality--Teacher Attitudes -- Hold schools accountable. -- Will not give any child permission to drop out of school. -- Will not give any teacher permission to give up on a student. -- Will not give any parent a free pass from their responsibility to be fully involved in their child's education. -- Will not give any segment of our community, particularly our business community, a free pass on education. These leaders need to put the same effort into helping North Carolina be the home of the nation's best educated workforce. Accountability, Governance, State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies -- Reorganized (earlier this year) the public school system with Bill Harrison becoming both the CEO of the State Board of Education and of the Department of Public Instruction. Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Economic/Workforce Development -- Create jobs and provide ways for those who are out of work to learn new skills. -- Put people back to work building bridges, paving roads, and expanding and renovating our infrastructure. -- Transform our traditional industries into 21st century jobs. Adult Learning/Continuing Education, Economic/Workforce Development -- Create jobs and provide ways for those who are out of work to learn new skills. -- Put people back to work building bridges, paving roads, and expanding and renovating our infrastructure. -- Transform our traditional industries into 21st century jobs. Assessment, Standards--State -- Eliminating duplicative or unnecessary state tests. Business Involvement, Economic/Workforce Development, Postsecondary -- Become a Mecca for biotech, pharmaceuticals, and life sciences by bringing together government, higher education and private business. Career/Technical Education, Community Colleges, Early Learning, P-16, Postsecondary, Pre-Kindergarten, -- Create a pathway, starting in pre-kindergarten that offers courses of study that fit students' needs -- all the way through vocational, community college, or college. Seamless learning, pre-K through 20, that's the goal. Federal, Federal--Aid, Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Ensure the recovery dollars are spent with maximum efficiency, transparency, and accountability. -- Created the Office of Economic Recovery & Investment to track every dollar. Taxpayers can go to www.NCRecovery.gov to see how the money is spent. Finance, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Pay our state's bills. -- Confront the $3 billion plus shortfall and make hard, painful decisions to balance the budget. -- Propose to reduce and cut state government programs and services that are effective but which we cannot afford. Finance, Finance--Funding Formulas, Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures -- Will not sacrifice education--it is the priority. -- Increase per-pupil spending. Health, Persistence/Retention -- Keep all our kids healthy and in school. http://www.governor.state.nc.us/stateofstate.aspx 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