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 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 Alabama Governor Robert Bentley's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Teacher Compensation/Benefits -- Ask teachers to contribute more to their individual retirement and to health care insurance programs. -- Repeal the DROP Program which has overly taxed our retirement system. State Funding -- Don't reduce state-funded teacher units. -- Don't cut classroom sizes. -- Don't cut the length of the school year or contract days for teachers or support personnel. -- Devote $5 million dollars in the education budget specifically for classroom teaching supplies. -- Protect: Alabama Reading Initiative; Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative; and ACCESS Distance Learning. Advanced Placement -- Expand our programs that prepare students for college by increasing the number of AP teachers in our high schools. Economic/Workforce Development -- Strengthen our work force training programs in our two-year college system. Local Decisionmaking -- Give flexibility to local school boards to prioritize and make decisions that affect the schools in their districts. -- Remove restrictive language from legislation that dictates decisions made by these schools board and give them additional funding and flexibility so they can put the money to highest and best use. Postsecondary Finance -- Increase state funding for higher education and give our presidents more flexibility in their budgets. Special Education -- Provide significant increases in state funding for disabled and special needs children and adults. ACCOMPLISHMENTS -- N/A: Newly Elected Governor http://www.governor.alabama.gov/downloads/SOTS-2011.pdf 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/ Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Business Involvement -- Advance the recommendations of the Education Alliance of Idaho (i.e., a coalition of key stakeholders of the Idaho education system formed as a result of a charge from Governor Otter to the Idaho Business Coalition for Educational Excellence to develop strategic recommendations for setting Idaho on a trajectory to become a global leader in education). Finance -- Call for a little more state support for public schools and significant, targeted investments. -- Shift priorities from how much we are spending to how much children are learning. High School, Mathematics, Science -- Invest in a third year of math and science in high school. High School, Postsecondary Entrance -- Pay for all juniors to take college entrance exams. Postsecondary, Financial Aid -- Look forward to the time when we can resume building on the Opportunity Scholarship Fund to ensure money is never a barrier to qualified students going on after high school. Teacher Pay-For-Performance -- Establish a pay system for teachers that emphasizes performance, not tenure. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Business Involvement, Postsecondary -- Acknowledge the expaning role of the business community, the Idaho National Laboratory and the Center for Advanced Energy Studies in their collaboration with colleges and universities on research and technology transfer issues. Finance, Student Achievement -- Acknowledge the fact that Idaho students continue to out-perform national averages on math and reading and generally score higher on achievement tests, despite the fact that the state spends far less per student than the national average. Postsecondary, Community Colleges -- Acknowledge that efforts to provide more affordable higher education options are paying off, as The College of Western Idaho is one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the nation. Technology -- Congratulate the Idaho Education Network's (i.e., an entity formed to ensure high-speed broadband access for all students) expansion into every corner of the state where schools are using the Network to offer master's degree programs, POST Academy training, firefighter and paramedic training, and professional development courses for teachers. -- Congratulate the high school students who have earned 1,300 college credits by using the Idaho Education Network. http://gov.idaho.gov/mediacenter/speeches/sp_2011/State%20of%20the%20State%202011.pdf Iowa Governor Branstad's Budget Address PROPOSALS Pre-K -3 -- Ensure that every Iowa child has access to quality preschool. Make a $43 million annual investment in providing preschool assistance to those families in greatest need. Research shows preschool investments have the most long-lasting impact on children who come from homes with financial need. As such, our program will be targeted to those families and will give parents flexibility to choose the preschool environment that best meets the needs of their children. But we can not do it alone. All across this state parents, private donors and caring organizations have, for years, partnered with preschool providers to ensure access. I am happy to have the state of Iowa join them as a partner, not as a sole provider. Finance -- Provide nearly $160 million in direct property tax relief to Iowans. This fully funds the state's share of the school funding commitments, erasing the need for local school districts to make up the difference by raising property taxes. -- While school systems across the country are reeling with massive budget cuts, this budget for the next two years holds school spending authority at the current level. No increase, no decrease but with an assurance that we can deliver on this promise and allow our creative school leaders more flexibility and an opportunity to make things work. Quality Schools, Student Achievement --Convene an education summit this summer to bring together the nation's most dynamic education reform leaders. These national leaders will work with our new education policy team and strive to reach a consensus on what changes are needed to give our children the nation's highest quality schools. Should we reach that critical consensus, and I have no reason to believe that we won't, I will convene a special session of the Iowa legislature in the fall of this year to approve our bold reform agenda and to make good on our new covenant promise to provide our children with a globally competitive education. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A - Newly-elected Governor. https://governor.iowa.gov/2011/01/gov-branstads-budget-address/ Maine Governor Paul R. LePage's 2011 Biennial Budget Address PROPOSALS Finance (K-12 and Postsecondary) -- Increase state aid to local education by $63 million over the biennium from the state aid provided in FY 2011. In 2013 we will contribute $914 million to General Purpose Aid to Education. .... We should ALL be spending our first year on oversight and decision making. Every agency, program and service ought to start at zero and justify their objectives and practices. And before a budget is drafted, suggestions for improvement should be considered. -- Make reasonable changes to the retirement system that save $524 million over the current biennium, with most of the savings accruing to the General Fund. This budget asks retirees to forgo cost of living increases in the short term and to accept modest increases in the future. This budget also asks retirees for the same shared sacrifice we are asking of our state employees and increases the retirement age to 65 for new and recent hires. -- Make no cuts for higher education. -- Continue to provide strong support for scholarship programs. -- Consider additional ways to pay for the cost of higher education as well -- start the discussion about creating Maine Higher Education Savings Bonds. Career and Technical Education -- Support a new collaboration between the Kennebec Valley Community College and Good Will-Hinckley to expand opportunities for kids who need a stable, alternative learning environment. The program will provide career training and prepare students for Maine's workforce. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A -- Newly-Elected Governor http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=Gov_Speeches&id=197265&v=article2011 Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton's 2011 State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Increase state funding for public K-12 education every year, with every additional dollar directed toward improving the quality of that education. Early Learning -- Re-establish the Governor's Council on Early Childhood Education and the Children's Cabinet, both to be led by Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius. -- Increase funding to expand the number of children who can receive all-day kindergarten. Postsecondary Effectiveness -- Identify successes in colleges and universities that are educating students most successfully. Share these strategies and encourage and require their use elsewhere. Business Involvement -- Ask every business in Minnesota to adopt a school, college or university: to become actively involved in making them better. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A - Newly-elected Governor http://mn.gov/governor/newsroom/pressreleasedetail.jsp?id=9690 Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Pre-K-3 -- Fund programs to get youngsters off to a good start, like First Steps, Head Start, and Early Childhood Special Education. Economic Development -- Roll three worker training programs into one, and align it with our Compete Missouri incentives. Worker training assistance will be available to businesses as small as Ardent Outdoors, which employs 15 people in Macon, and as large as Boeing, which employs thousands. -- Provide an additional $5 million for job training, giving employers more resources to maintain a highly skilled workforce, and sharpen their competitive edge. Finance -- Protect our investment in K-12 classrooms. -- Partner with school districts to allow additional federal funds received to be used to keep stable funding for our K-12 classrooms - not only for fiscal year 2011, but also for fiscal year 2012. College Access and Completion -- Do more to help students make the leap from high school to college. Budget millions of dollars for Missouri's most successful college scholarship programs, including: Bright Flight, to help keep our top students at our excellent Missouri institutions; Access Missouri, which serves students with the greatest financial need; and A+, which has helped more than 50,000 students afford and attend college. -- Give a $500 bonus to A+ and Access Missouri recipients who score well on Advanced Placement exams in math and science. -- Extend our A+ program so that outstanding students all across the state are guaranteed access to A+ college scholarships. For too long, too many excellent Missouri high school students have been unable to get A+ scholarships - through no fault of their own - simply because their schools weren't designated as A+ schools. Student Achievement -- In the next ten years, Missouri student achievement must rank in the nation's top ten, if we expect to compete for the best jobs in the global economy Technology -- Bring broadband to every corner of the state. Connect tens of thousands of homes in rural Missouri to a network of vital community services like fire and police, schools and hospitals, libraries and government. ACCOMPLISHMENTS College Access and Completion -- Kept tuition and fees flat for two years running. Even if some schools impose modest tuition increases next year, we'll have protected Missouri families from the sharp tuition spikes seen in other states. -- College enrollment jumped by 10,000 students last year, hitting record highs at more than half of Missouri's universities, and boosting applications at all of them. Economic Development -- Put Missouri's first State Parks Youth Corps in action. At a time when it's been especially tough for young people to find jobs, the State Parks Youth Corps put money in the pockets of more than 1,000 young workers - at no cost to the state. The National Association of State Park Directors gave our State Parks Youth Corps its top award for innovation in 2010. Technology -- MoBroadbandNow partnership was a stunning success. Finance -- Reformed and modernized the state pension system, which will keep it solvent now, and for years to come. -- Required insurance companies to start providing meaningful coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of children with autism. http://governor.mo.gov/newsroom/speeches/2011/2011_State_of_the_State.htm Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer's State of the State Address PROPOSALS College Tuition -- Urged lawmakers not to raise college tuition, as his proposed budget provides enough state funding for colleges to cap tuition for students. Education Funding -- Increase state funding for the University System and public schools; not the time for education budget cuts because funding is available. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Accessibility, Finance, Technology -- Created an education system that is more affordable, more accessible more digital and more relevant. Full-Day Kindergarten -- Invested in full-day kindergarten four years ago and it is just now starting to pay off. http://governor.mt.gov/speeches/speeches.asp?ID=182 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 Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Electronic Textbooks -- Move toward electronic textbooks where appropriate. Finance -- Restructure state spending and educational programs in order to get more money into the classroom. That will require cutting down on overhead and educational bureaucracy by sharing administrative resources. Health -- Support the Certified Healthy Schools program and other state healthy living initiatives. Pension Reform -- Reform the pension system. Public-private Partnerships -- Work with the state superintendent to find available funds for a new public-private partnership where private money matches state dollars to fund innovative learning programs that are shown to increase student performance and close the achievement gap. Social Promotion -- Work with state superintendent to eliminate social promotion. Student Remediation -- Reduce remediation rates and develop better and more accurate systems to track student progress to know what is working and what is not. Teacher Dismissal -- Eliminate "trial de novo" a system that makes it nearly impossible to dismiss even the most underperforming teachers. http://www.ok.gov/triton/modules/newsroom/newsroom_article.php?id=223&article_id=541 Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber's Inaugural Remarks PROPOSALS Quality Schools, Postsecondary Success --By 2020, the end of this decade — by the time the children entering kindergarten this year graduate from high school — we should live in a state where our children are ready to learn before they get to school; where they have the resources and attention to learn and our teachers have the time and support to teach; where dropout rates are steadily falling and graduation rates are steadily rising; where all Oregon high school graduates are prepared to pursue a post-secondary education without remediation; and where 80 percent of them achieve at least two years of post-secondary education or training. Economic Development, Career Pathways -- We should live in a state that creates family wage jobs and career pathways that lead to those jobs; and where the average per capita income exceeds the national average in every region. Finance -- Shift our pattern of investments toward children, education and workforce development in a manner that is financially sustainable over the long term. -- Move from a two-year budget to a ten-year budget frame; from a current service level budget to true outcome-based budgeting. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A - Newly-elected Governor http://governor.oregon.gov/Gov/media_room/speeches/index.shtml#january_2011 South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Postsecondary Readiness and Completion -- Ensure that every student who wants to go to college is fully prepared to enter and graduate. Technical Education -- Expand technical education opportunities, through partnerships with our tech schools and private businesses, so that high school students can have exposure to skilled, technical fields. -- Sponsor a bill to increase the bonding capacity of our postsecondary tech schools, to allow them to continue to expand their campuses and add new programs in technical fields. STEM -- Work toward new approaches to strengthen education in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Finance, Local Control -- Allow local school boards and school administrators to run their own districts. -- Sponsor bills to repeal the 100 student minimum for state aid to school districts and to remove the cap on school district reserve fund balances. Encourage Careers in Health Care -- Partner with health systems, professional organizations, educational institutions, and local governments to increase efforts to encourage students to consider careers in health care. -- Encourage local school districts to give high school credit toward graduation for training in fields like EMT, dietetics, or nursing assistants. -- Continue to promote the privately-funded DakotaCorps scholarship, which rewards young people who commit to staying in the state and entering health care and other high-need fields. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A: Newly-Elected Governor http://sd.gov/governor/docs/State%20of%20the%20State,%20Jan.%2011,%202011.pdf Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin's 2011 Budget Address [Budget Address: No State of the State Address for 2011] PROPOSALS Finance -- Make an ongoing reduction of $23 million from the General Fund transfer to the Education Fund. This reduction will require continued spending restraint by hardworking school boards and local communities to hold back property tax increases. Release one-time federal funding of $19 million to give local communities additional time to make further spending reductions, but they must be made. Pre-K -3 -- Make Vermont the national leader in early childhood education. Expand the state's pre-kindergarten program for ages three, four, and five, by lifting the cap on the number of students counted in Pre-K funding. Vermonters will be able to exercise local control and vote to spend money without the heavy hand of Montpelier preventing them from doing so. -- When this cap is lifted, over time, if half of Vermont's eligible children are enrolled in a Pre-K program – an optimistic goal – the cost to the state's Education Fund would be about $14 million. Economic Development Create a sustainable higher education income tax credit that will enable Vermont students who stay here and work here to reduce their college debt. Technology -- Two weeks ago, I launched Connect VT, an ambitious plan to deliver broadband and cell service to every corner of Vermont. To get this essential project done, in addition to using federal funds and private investments, I propose spending $13 million from our two-year capital budget and fully utilizing the $40 million revenue bond capacity of the Vermont Telecommunications Authority. These investments will expedite the build out of fiber optics lines and wireless networks across our state, including the most rural areas that for economic reasons are least likely to attract private providers. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A - Newly-elected Governor http://governor.vermont.gov/newsroom-budget-address 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