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 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 Alaska Governor Sean Parnell's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Postsecondary Scholarships -- Give, in the next three years, 30,000 high school students the opportunity to earn an Alaska Performance Scholarship. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Job Training, Postsecondary Scholarships -- Implemented the Alaska Performance Scholarship giving more than 9,000 high school seniors the opportunity to earn scholarships for university or job training. Facilities, Vocational education -- Built and renovated schools across the state--adding gyms and space for vocational education. Postsecondary Finance, Tax Credits -- Boosted tax credits for gifts to higher education and job-training institutions. http://www.stateline.org/live/details/speech?contentId=540473 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 Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Employee Training - Increase support for the Employer Training Investment Program, to invest in the state's workforce to meet the changing needs of business. P-20 - Begin at birth to provide the foundation that is needed to prepare our children for high school and success in college and careers. Postsecondary Access - Revamp the higher education system to increase access for all students. Regional Superintendent Funding - Eliminate state funding for the salaries and office costs for regional school superintendents. Scholarship Programs - Increase funding for the monetary assistance program, which provides scholarships for qualified needy students, with a particular focus on community college students. - Abolish the legislative scholarship program. College scholarships--paid for by Illinois taxpayers--should only go to those that have true financial need for them. School District Consolidation - Propose the formation of a commission to review the number of school districts in the state. Illinois currently has 868 districts and our fiscal reality demands consolidation. ACCOMPLISHMENTS P-20 - Appointed member of the first P-20 Council in Illinois. http://www2.illinois.gov/budget/Documents/FY%202012/FY12_Budget_Speech.pdf 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 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 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 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