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 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 Florida Governor Rick Scott's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Charter Schools - Increase the number of charter schools. Choice of Schools - Expand the eligibility for opportunity scholarships to harness the power of engaged parents. Finance - Analyze how much education money is spent in the classroom versus the amount spent on administration for capital outlays. Student Achievement - Base all education decisions on individual student learning. - Adopt practices to improve student learning and abolish practices that impair student learning. Teacher Employment - Pay the best educators more and end the practice of guaranteeing educators a job for life regardless of their performance. Teaching and Administrative Quality - Recruit, train, support and promote great teachers, principals and superintendents. Testing/ Teacher Evaluation - Test students and evaluate teachers with measurements that are fair and thoughtful, and that have rewards and consequences. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A - Newly-Elected Governor http://www.flgov.com/2011/03/08/florida-governor-rick-scott-delivers-state-of-the-state-address/ Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's 2011 State of the State Address PROPOSALS School Finance -- Increase a net $30 million in K-12 formula funding and no reduction in Equalization Grants. -- Appropriate 1% of the Revenue Shortfall Reserve for K-12 education to cover the Mid-Term Adjustment for Quality Basic Education and the shortfall for Non-Certified Personnel health insurance costs. Teacher Compensation -- End teacher furloughs and keep students in school for a full school year. Facilities Funding/STEM/Charter Schools -- Proposed projects for bond funding: ---->$231 million for K-12 construction, equipment and buses; ---->$15 million for funding for STEM charter schools that focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education, areas that are vital to our competiveness in the global economy; ---->$50 million for repairs and renovations in the University System; and ---->$28 million for upgrades at our technical colleges. Scholarships -- Save HOPE Scholarship we through programmatic changes during this legislative session. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A: Newly-Elected Governor http://gov.georgia.gov/00/press/detail/0,2668,165937316_166428912_167569533,00.html Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels' State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- End practices like raiding teacher pension funds, and shifting state deficits to our schools and universities by making them wait until the state had the cash to pay them. Teaching Quality -- Should have tenure, but they should earn it by proving their ability to help kids learn.  -- Best teachers should be paid more, much more, and ineffective teachers should be helped to improve or asked to move. Leadership -- Give school leadership full flexibility to deliver the results we now expect.  -- Free school leaders from all the handcuffs that reduce their ability to meet the higher expectations we now have for student achievement.  Local Control -- Repeal mandates that, whatever their good intentions, ought to be left to local control.  School Choice/Charter School -- Honor, trust and respect parents enough to decide when, where and how their children can receive the best education, and therefore the best chance in life. -- Protect families against any possibility of discrimination by requiring that any school with more applicants than room fill it through a lottery or other blind selection process. -- Create more charter schools, and they must no longer be unjustly penalized. They should receive their funding exactly when other public schools do. If they need space, and the local district owns vacant buildings it has no prospect of using, they should turn them over. -- Let families apply dollars that the state spends on their child to the non-government school of their choice. Accelerated Learning -- Empower kids to defray the high cost of education through their own hard work, by entrusting them with this new and innovative choice. If you choose to finish in eleven years instead of twelve, we will give you the money we were going to spend while you cruised through 12fth grade, as long as you spend that money on some form of further education.  ACCOMPLISHMENTS -- Ordered the Board of Education to peel away unnecessary requirements that consume time and money without really contributing to learning.  -- Starting this year, schools will get their own grades, in a form we can all understand: 'A' to 'F.' No more hiding behind jargon and gibberish. http://www.in.gov/gov/11stateofstate.htm?WT.cg_n=GOV_billboards&WT.cg_s=11111_01_SOS Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour's State of the State Address PROPOSALS School Choice/Options -- Make dual enrollment easier and more common. -- Reform charter school law so more children can benefit. Resource Allocation -- Put more resources into the classroom and reduce what is spent on administration. Teaching Quality -- Focus on improving the quality of teachers coming out of our colleges of education, while simultaneously using technology more in teaching our kids. District Finance -- Adopt budget recommendation for 2012 and school districts will have more than $450 million in their reserve funds. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Student Achievement -- The last NAEP scores were up more than the national average, and the dropout rate is going down. Economic/Workforce Development -- Created the Department of Employment Security and expanded it to take over workforce development and job training. -- Established the State Workforce Investment Board and the Workforce Enhancement Training (WET) fund, which annually puts $20 million into workforce development and skills training at 15 community colleges. Graduates of WET-fund financed programs make $4,300 more per year than before training. -- Research universities have become more effective engines of economic growth. -- Improved, skilled workforce has been a reason companies have come to Mississippi. http://www.governorbarbour.com/news/2011/jan/1.11.11%20Gov.%20Barbour%27s%20State%20of%20the%20State%20Address%20TEXT.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 Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam's 2011 Legislative Package PROPOSALS Charter Schools •    Lift the cap on charter schools and allow open enrollment •    Allow the state's Achievement School District (part of First to the Top) to authorize charter schools Teacher Tenure •    Make tenure tied to classroom performance; extend probationary time from three to five years College Completion •    Extend use of the lottery scholarship for summer courses and cap the total number of hours based on required degree completion ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A - Newly Elected Governor http://news.tnanytime.org/node/6721 Wyoming Governor Matt Mead's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Charter Schools -- Interested in moving forward on charter schools. Charter schools could provide some new ideas to be used at traditional schools. For this model to work, the charter schools cannot cherry pick the best students. Finance -- Reduce school capital construction by $61.5 million. -- Expect districts to use block grants – state money – in ways that put students in the best position to succeed. Teaching Quality -- To determine the quality of teaching requires an objective standard. Failing the use of an objective standard we presume the infallibility of administrators. We need a testing program that is administered in a way that will measure students and teachers alike in a manner that clearly identifies both success and problems. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A: Newly-Elected Governor 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