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 Postsecondary Affordability--Textbooks 1 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees 5 Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's 2011 State of the State Address PROPOSALS College Affordability -- Continue to make college more affordable for more families. Governance Structures -- Merge the Higher Education Commission and Department of Education. Postsecondary Completion -- Support Complete College Maryland in this year's budget. -- Rethink the way we fund higher education so there is a greater incentive for completing college on time. ACCOMPLISHMENTS School Finace -- For the past four years, every year, we've increased education funding. -- Last year, we chose to make the largest investment we've ever made in public education. University Tuition -- Alone among the 50 states we chose to freeze in-state tuition four years in a row. http://www.governor.maryland.gov/speeches/2011SOTS.pdf 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 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 Texas Governor Rick Perry's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Dropout Rate, Employer Tax Incentives, Virtual High School - Improve efforts to reduce the dropout rate by requiring students to either be enrolled or working towards a GED if they want to get and/or keep their driver's license. - Create an incentive program for employers who encourage their employees to continue their high school education. - Offer employers a $1,500 tax incentive for every employee who earns their diploma or GED after receiving two hours off per week with pay to study or go to class. - Expand Virtual School Network, with a Virtual High School that will enable students who have dropped out to earn a diploma online and give students access to classes their own schools may not offer. Postsecondary/Veterans - Support what one school calls "College Credit 4 Heroes." The Texas Workforce Commission is working with the Higher Education Coordinating Board and the community colleges on a plan to offer veteran credit for their skills and experience. The goal is to accelerate them into the Allied Health Occupation, which are critically needed across our state. Shared Services - Encourage districts to enter into shared service arrangements with other entities in their area. STEM - Expand STEM academies. Tuition Freeze - Renew my call for a four-year tuition freeze, locking tuition rates at or below the freshman level for four years. - Challenge institutions of higher education to develop bachelor's degrees that cost no more than $10,000 including textbooks. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Postsecondary Cost Efficiency - Ordered a review of cost efficiencies at universities as a way to make education more affordable. One idea that emerged from that review is called "Outcomes-Based Funding" in which a significant percent of undergraduate funding, would be based on the number of degrees awarded. http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/15673/ 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