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 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 Delaware Governor Jack Markell's State of the State Address PROPOSALS AP Courses, Assessment Systems, Federal Aid, Incentive Pay for Teachers, Teacher Evaluation -- Make the state's Race to the Top competition plan a reality by: (1) Implementing a better assessment system, measuring student growth during the year and providing real-time feedback so teacher can adjust and improve student learning on-the-spot; (2) Measuring student growth in every subject area so we can link teacher evaluations with how much their students learning in their classroom, identify what works, and raise the quality of instruction across the state; (3) Give teachers more time to collaborate with their colleagues and work with data coaches in interpreting student data and developing strategies to address identified needs; (4) Meet parents' requests for more Advanced Placement courses; and (5) Provide incentive pay to attract highly effective teachers to high-needs schools. Common Core Standards -- Assess more accurately how proficient our students are at meeting the new common core standards. Early Learning -- Increase the focus on early learning within state government, improving assessment and the use of data, and better coordinating and integrating funding. Foreign Languages, Online Courses -- Offer high-quality online Chinese language courses developed with federal grant funding. STEM -- Fund a new STEM Teacher Residency Program to attract individuals with experience in the STEM areas to the teaching profession. -- Bring to the classrooms a former senior scientist with Astra-Zeneca and a Master's-level physicist with prior experience at NASA. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Common Core Standards -- Adopted new, clearer and higher "common core standards." Federal Aid -- Won the national Race to the Top competition. Foreign Languages -- Required completion of a world language in order to graduate. -- Offered Chinese language courses to students at virtually no cost to the state. School Improvement -- Launched the Partnership Zone effort to provide more focus on our lowest-achieving schools. Selected schools are required to implement significant and difficult changes and all four Partnership Zones have done so. School Safety -- Asked the Safety and Homeland Security Secretary to oversee creation of model comprehensive school safety plans for the 26 public schools with a State Police Resource Officer. STEM -- Created a STEM Council to ensure that schools have the high quality programs and partnerships necessary so that students gain the critical skills and knowledge needed for high-quality jobs. http://governor.delaware.gov/remarks/2011stateofthestate/2011stateofstate.shtml 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 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 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/ Technology--Equitable Access 1 Technology--Teacher/Faculty Training 1 Textbooks and Open Source 1 Youth Engagement 1 329