2011 State of the State Addresses Education-Related Proposals by Issue

The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2011 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 6 Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's State of the State Address Education is the social bedrock for the hopes and dreams of our children and the foundation that is necessary for their future prosperity. No community can have sustained economic growth without a good education system. PROPOSALS Finance -- Have a moral obligation to the children of Colorado to do all that we can in the midst of this economic downturn to see that our budget decisions avoid compromising their future. Student Achievement -- Have important work to see through – both the goal of ensuring a student-centered education system articulated in CAP4K [Colorado Achievement Plan for Kids] and the creation of a fair and effective educator evaluation system. -- Must change the dynamic that a child's potential not be predetermined by his or her ZIP code. Postsecondary Finance -- Commend the strategic plan recently completed by [former] Gov. Ritter's citizen panel, outlining the stark choices we must make for higher education in Colorado. Work with the Colorado Commission on Higher Education to help us make the tough decisions. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A - Newly-Elected Governor http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite/GovHickenlooper/CBON/1251588091187 Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Economic/Workforce Development -- Create a Nebraska Internship Program to increase the number of college and university students interning with Nebraska businesses. P-20/Virtual High Schools --Support the Department of Education, the University of Nebraska and Nebraska's P-16 Initiative in their joint efforts to develop a virtual high school to allow: ---->High school students to take courses ranging from basic Spanish to AP courses. ---->Rural Nebraska communities to to hire foreign language, math and science teachers. ---->To complete course work on their timetable in the evenings or on weekends. ---->To expand learning beyond the traditional school day and school year. Accountability -- Focus on education accountability. Truancy Reduction -- Support Senator Ashford's efforts to reduce truancy. Postsecondary -- Invest a one-time $25 million in the University of Nebraska's Innovation Campus. -- Maintain higher education funding for the University of Nebraska, state colleges and community colleges. ACCOMPLISHMENTS -- Have made fundamental investments in education and the economic vitality of the state and as a result Nebraska has made significant progress. -- Prioritized education in the two-year budget despite a nearly $1 billion projected shortfall. State funded state aid to education in FY12 remains at $810 million and increases by $50 million to $860 million in FY13. -- Thanks to the leadership of the Legislature, Nebraska is moving to statewide reading and math assessments. http://www.governor.nebraska.gov/news/2011/pdf/2011%20State%20of%20the%20State%20-%20FINAL%20READING.pdf Nevada Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Accountability -- Improve accountability report cards. Choice of Schools -- Use open enrollment, better charter school options, and vouchers to make private school education a possibility for more families and provide more parental choice. Governance -- Reform K-12 governance. Support the recommendations of Nevada's Promise to provide an improved governance model in which the governor appoints the state board of education and the superintendent of public instruction. Teaching Quality -- End teacher tenure. An important first step is to eliminate the protection of seniority when decisions about force reductions must be made. -- Rely heavily on student achievement data in evaluating teachers and principals. As incentives, provide $20 million in performance pay for the most effective teachers. -- Eliminate costly programs that reward longevity and advanced degree attainment. Student Promotion -- End social promotion. Students who cannot read by the end of third grade will not be advanced to the fourth grade. Economic Development -- Redesign the Commission on Economic Development and recommend a 50 percent increase in General Fund dollars to run it. -- Create a new entity, Nevada Jobs Unlimited, as a public-private partnership existing largely outside state government. With a private sector mentality, it will be more nimble. And it will be a Cabinet-level agency, with the governor joining the lieutenant governor, Senate majority leader, Assembly speaker, and representatives of higher education and other critical stakeholders on the board. A majority of the board members will come from the private sector to ensure the focus is squarely on jobs. -- Develop a more strategic focus that connects degree programs and the state's economic development efforts. Finance -- Reduce Basic Support in our K-12 schools by $270 per pupil. The change in total support from current spending is just over nine percent. -- Create a Block Grant Program that encourages districts to be innovative and results-oriented. If one district chooses to continue class size reduction, so be it. If another district wants to pursue other programs, we will no longer hold them back. Flexibility, local autonomy, and accountability are the keys. -- Change the level of reserves required for debt service in all those counties with bond funds. School improvements, maintenance, and equipment purchases will continue – which means no construction jobs will be lost. Simply put, these tax dollars were unnecessarily locked away in one of those separate buckets. -- Use $425 million of these funds to offset the $440 million in lost local funding. The money will stay in education and be used in the district of origin. Replenish these funds over time as the Local School Support Tax rebounds. -- Make temporary use of room tax revenue now slated for teacher salaries in order to defray the costs of overall education spending. Pay-for-performance is still included in the budget, just on a different scale. Postsecondary Finance, Tuition, Financial Aid -- Redirect nine cents of property tax from Clark and Washoe Counties. Restrict this money to the support of universities and community colleges in those counties, because property values rise and economic growth occurs where universities contribute to economic development. -- Reduce state, local, and student revenue for the Nevada System of Higher Education by less than seven percent. With the loss of one-time stimulus dollars, the total reduction is 17.66 percent. However, the Regents have the option of bringing tuition and fees more in line with other Western States, so many of these funds can be recovered. -- Grant autonomy over tuition to the Regents. Nevada's tuition rates are well below our Western neighbors – the Regents have long asked for the authority to raise them. Reserve 15 percent of any increased tuition to ensure access for those who need financial aid. As we increase autonomy, we will also increase performance indicators so that graduation rates, completion times, and access are measures of success. -- Budget an additional $10 million to preserve the Kenny C. Guinn Millennium Scholarship. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A Newly-elected Governor http://nv.gov/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=4294969086&libID=4294969085 New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Accountability -- Reform poor-performing schools or close them. Economic Growth, Postsecondary -- Acknowledge that our system of colleges and universities is essential to our economic growth. Finance -- Continue to examine the amount and structure of municipal and school aid programs. -- Cut out-of-classroom costs and focus efforts on teachers and children. Leadership -- Empower principals. School Choice -- Expand the charter school program beyond the 6 approved this year and the 73 currently operating; this is a top priority. -- Attract the best charter school operators to the state. -- Increase authorizing capacity so charter school operators may start schools here. -- Implement the interdistrict school choice law passed last year. -- Pass the Opportunity Scholarship Act (gives businesses tax credits for funding scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools) to help children in failing schools. Teacher Compensation--Pension and Benefits -- Reform pension and health benefit systems for teachers; the state must begin to make its pension contributions. -- Raise (modestly) the retirement age. -- Curb the effect of COLAs -- Ensure a modest but acceptable contribution from employees toward their own retirement system. Teacher Evaluation -- Improve the measurement and evaluation of teachers; there is a task force of teachers, principals and administrators working on that now. Teacher Non-Renewal, Tenure -- Demand that when teacher layoffs occur, they be based on a merit system and not merely on seniority. -- Empower schools to remove underperforming teachers. -- Eliminate teacher tenure. Teacher Pay-for-Performance -- Reward the best teacher based on merit at the individual teacher level. ACCOMPLISHMENTS School Choice -- Created a permanent interdistrict public school choice program. -- Approved 6 new charter schools, with many more to come soon. http://www.state.nj.us/governor/news/news/552010/20110111d.html New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Nothing we do is more indispensable to our future well-being or will receive more attention from my administration than guaranteeing our children a quality education. Student Achievement, Accountability, Finance -- Place a command-focus on student performance and progress, not just on how much money we're spending. -- We must end the culture of low expectations. "Kids First, New Mexico Wins" plan is comprised of four key initiatives: -- First, get money out of the bureaucracy and into the classroom. Today, only 61 cents of every education dollar makes it to the classroom. -- Second, adopt an easy-to-understand, easy-to-implement system of grading. Schools will be assigned letter grades A, B, C, D or F. And these grades will be posted to the Web. That's real accountability that will yield real results. Greater accountability will ensure we identify struggling students in all grades.We will focus attention on the lowest-performing 25 percent of students. Get them help immediately. Target failing schools with immediate intervention. Currently, it takes approximately five years to identify and intervene in a failing school. -- Third, end social promotion, the practice of passing children from one grade to the next before they have mastered the basics. The New Mexico "Ready for Success" initiative will get struggling students the help they need before we pass them on to the next grade. Teaching Quality -- Reward New Mexico's best teachers. The most important people in the lives of our students are parents and teachers. The quality of our teachers is the key to improving our quality of education. A system that evaluates and rewards excellence will attract the best and brightest to New Mexico classrooms. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A - Newly-Elected Governor http://www.governor.state.nm.us/uploads/FileLinks/20e5f2e740f34a2297a940e2bacdfcce/011811_2.pdf North Carolina Governor Beverly Perdue's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Graduation Rate, College/Career Ready - Acknowledge that while the high school graduation rate has increased to 74 percent, that is not good enough to reach NC's goal for every child to graduate high school ready for a career, college or technical training. Teaching Quality - Demand that all teachers and administrators meet our standards of excellence or we will replace them. Two-Year College Degree - Rebranding a College Promise and North Carolina's Career and College Promise. By consolidating existing programs and nurturing partnerships between high schools and our community college system, career training and a college degree will be more affordable to our students. Any high school junior who signs up at school for the Career and College Promise--who meets criteria while maintaining high academic standards will be eligible to earn a two-year college degree at no cost. State Budget, Teaching Positions - Fund every current state-supported teacher and teaching assistant position. - Will not eliminate teachers to find budget savings. ACCOMPLISHMENTS College/Career Ready - Launched the Career and College Ready Set Go! initiative challenging educators at all levels to focus on one single goal: to prepare all students to graduate ready for a career, college or technical training. Federal Aid - Won federal Race to the Top funds. Virtual Schools, Educator Accountability - Providing a 21st century education imbedded with technology (46,000 high school students are taking courses from the NC Virtual Public School), more career and academic choices for students of all ages and a new level of accountability for teachers and administrators. http://www.stateline.org/live/details/speech?contentId=542519 Accountability--Reporting Results 1 Accountability--Sanctions/Interventions 1 Accountability--School Improvement 2 Assessment 4 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention) 1 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention)--Alternative Education 1 Attendance 2 Bilingual/ESL 1 Business Involvement 5 Career/Technical Education 4 Choice of Schools 3 Choice of Schools--Charter Schools 8 Choice of Schools--Charter Schools--Cyber Charters 1 Choice of Schools--Charter Schools--Finance 1 Choice of Schools--Choice/Open Enrollment 2 Choice of Schools--Tax Credits 2 Choice of Schools--Vouchers 2 Choice of Schools--Vouchers--Privately Funded 1 Class Size 1 Curriculum--Foreign Language/Sign Language 1 Curriculum--Mathematics 1 Curriculum--Science 1 Economic/Workforce Development 18 Finance 17 Finance--Adequacy/Core Cost 1 Finance--District 3 Finance--Facilities 3 Finance--Federal 3 Finance--Funding Formulas 3 Finance--Resource Efficiency 1 Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures 13 Finance--Taxes/Revenues 2 Governance 7 Governance--School Boards 2 Governance--State Boards/Chiefs/Agencies 2 Health 1 High School 7 High School--Advanced Placement 3 High School--College Readiness 6 High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates 2 High School--Dual/Concurrent Enrollment 1 High School--Graduation Requirements 2 Leadership--District Superintendent 2 Leadership--District Superintendent--Compensation and Diversified Pay 1 Leadership--Principal/School Leadership 4 Online Learning--Virtual Schools/Courses 2 P-16 or P-20 5 P-3 5 P-3 Grades 1-3 4 P-3 Kindergarten 1 P-3 Kindergarten--Full-Day Kindergarten 3 P-3 Preschool 2 Parent/Family 1 Postsecondary 8 Postsecondary Accountability 1 Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid 6 Postsecondary Affordability--Textbooks 1 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees 5 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees--Prepd/College Savings Plans 1 Postsecondary Faculty--Compensation 1 Postsecondary Finance 13 Postsecondary Finance--Efficiency/Performance-Based Funding 1 Postsecondary Institutions 2 Postsecondary Institutions--Community/Technical Colleges 3 Postsecondary Participation--Access 6 Postsecondary Participation--Affirmative Action 1 Postsecondary Students 1 Postsecondary Success--Completion 7 Postsecondary Success--Developmental/Remediation 1 Postsecondary Success--Transfer/Articulation 1 Privatization 1 Promotion/Retention 3 Reading/Literacy 2 Remediation (K-12) 2 Rural 2 Scheduling/School Calendar 1 Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs 1 School Safety 2 School/District Structure/Operations--District Consolidation/Deconsolidation 2 School/District Structure/Operations--Facilities 1 School/District Structure/Operations--Shared Services 2 Special Education 2 Special Populations--Military 1 Standards 2 Standards--Common Core State Standards 1 State Policymaking 5 STEM 6 Student Achievement 8 Teaching Quality 6 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay 5 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Pay-for-Performance 3 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Retirement/Benefits 5 Teaching Quality--Evaluation and Effectiveness 8 Teaching Quality--Paraprofessionals 1 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention 1 Teaching Quality--Tenure or Continuing Contract 5 Technology 4 Technology--Computer Skills 5 Technology--Equitable Access 1 Technology--Teacher/Faculty Training 1 Textbooks and Open Source 1 Youth Engagement 1 329