ECS
2012 State of the State Addresses
Education-Related Proposals by Issue


Education Commission of the States • 700 Broadway, Suite 810 • Denver, CO 80203-3442 • 303.299.3600 • fax 303.296.8332 • www.ecs.org

The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2012 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
7
+ Accountability--Reporting Results
6
+ Accountability--Sanctions/Interventions
3
+ Accountability--School Improvement
4
+ Assessment
4
+ Assessment--College Entrance Exams
3
+ Assessment--Formative/Interim
1
+ At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention)--Alternative Education
1
+ Attendance
3
+ Career/Technical Education
7
+ Career/Technical Education--Career Academies/Apprenticeship
1
+ Choice of Schools
4
+ Choice of Schools--Charter Schools
11
+ Choice of Schools--Charter Schools--Research
1
+ Choice of Schools--Vouchers
5
+ Civic Education--Professional Development
1
+ Class Size
1
+ Curriculum
1
+ Curriculum--Foreign Language/Sign Language
1
+ Demographics--Condition of Children/Adults
1
+ Economic/Workforce Development
16
+ Federal
1
+ Finance
24
+ Finance--Facilities
1
+ Finance--Federal
2
+ Finance--Funding Formulas
4
+ Finance--Resource Efficiency
2
+ Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures
2
+ Governance
3
+ Governance--Deregulation/Waivers/Home Rule
1
+ Health--Teen Pregnancy
1
+ High School
3
+ High School--Advanced Placement
3
+ High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates
4
+ High School--Dual/Concurrent Enrollment
6
+ High School--Graduation Requirements
1
+ Instructional Approaches
1
+ Integrated Services/Full-Service Schools
1
+ International Baccalaureate
1
+ Leadership
1
+ Leadership--Principal/School Leadership--Evaluation and Effectiveness
2
+ Leadership--Principal/School Leadership--Preparation
1
+ No Child Left Behind
3
+ Online Learning--Virtual Schools/Courses
5
+ P-16 or P-20
1
+ P-3
2
+ P-3 Child Care
1
+ P-3 Early Intervention (0-3)
2
+ P-3 Ensuring Quality
3
+ P-3 Evaluation/Economic Benefits
1
+ P-3 Finance
2
+ P-3 Governance
3
+ P-3 Grades 1-3
3
+ P-3 Health and Mental Health
1
+ P-3 Kindergarten
3
+ P-3 Kindergarten--Full-Day Kindergarten
1
+ P-3 Preschool
7
+ P-3 Teaching Quality/Professional Development
1
+ Postsecondary
1
+ Postsecondary Accountability--Student Learning
1
+ Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid
7
+ Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees
1
+ Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees--Undocumented Immigrants
1
+ Postsecondary Finance
13
+ Postsecondary Finance--Efficiency/Performance-Based Funding
1
+ Postsecondary Finance--Facilities
3
- Postsecondary Governance and Structures
2
MassachusettsGovernor Deval Patrick's State of the State Address

PROPOSALS

Community Colleges, Economic/Workforce Development
--Community colleges are uniquely positioned to help close the state's skills gap and get people back to work. Community colleges must become a fully integrated part of the state's workforce development plan.  They must be aligned with:
+ Employers, voc-tech schools and Workforce Investment Boards in the regions where they operate
+ Each other in core course offerings
+ The Commonwealth's job growth strategy.
--Channel more state workforce training dollars through the community colleges.

Community College Funding, Governance
--Create a unified community college system to:
+ Help students find courses specifically tailored to meet local workforce needs alongside a core curriculum that emphasizes STEM subjects and with credits that are easily transferable to another community college or a four-year college.
+ Create "learn and earn" programs across the entire state enabling students to get practical workplace experience while completing course work.  
+ Offer the students the opportunity to earn a certificate of workplace readiness, opening doors in their chosen field anywhere in the state. And as they near course completion, offer one-stop career centers right on campus to help them move into, or back into, the workplace.
--Streamline the funding and governance of community colleges, and increase overall funding by $10 million.
--Challenge to the business community: Match that new funding with an additional $10 million.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Public Employee Pensions
--Made meaningful reforms in the pension system.

Student Safety
--Legislature approved and funded the "Safe and Successful Youth Initiative." 

Student Achievement
--Massachusetts students lead the nation in overall achievement and the world in math and science.

http://www.mass.gov/governor/pressoffice/speeches/23012012state-of-the-commonwealth-address.html

TennesseeGovernor Bill Haslam's State of the State Address

PROPOSALS

Economic Development
-- Focus on education to make sure that Tennessee is a state that attracts companies and keeps its best and brightest graduates in state with good-paying, high-quality jobs. Make sure graduates have strong enough skills to meet companies' needs.

Educator Quality
-- Make the evaluation process better. The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) will be spending the year talking to teachers and principals statewide to evaluate the evaluation system, and after gathering and analyzing that information, there may be changes that need to be made.
-- Recruit, retain and reward the best and brightest employees through the TEAM Act (Tennessee Excellence, Accountability and Management Act).

Federal
-- Be one of the first states to receive a waiver from the federal government's No Child Left Behind law. Build an accountability system that measures growth and improvement and gives every school a chance to success by doing better each year.

Finance
-- Rather than cutting the education budget, continue to fund the Basic Education Program (BEP) cost increases.
-- Restore over $100 million out of $160 million of slated cuts that had included programs like the Coordinated School Health Program, extended teacher contracts, etc., to protect vital services

Postsecondary Finance, Financial Aid and Costs
-- Increase higher education's operating budgets.

-- Increase the amount of money available in need-based scholarships.

-- Keep tuition increases to a minimum to encourage more access to more students.

-- Provide state funding for a number of new buildings and lab facilities on state campuses.

Postsecondary Governance
-- Strengthen the Tennessee Higher Education Commission's tie to the Governor's Office. THEC functions as a policy arm for higher education issues, and like the policy chief for K-12 education reports to the governor, it makes sense that higher education should have a similar structure.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Charter Schools
-- Expanded charter school opportunities.

Financial Aid
-- Made lottery scholarships available to students for summer school to encourage them to finish faster and to help universities use their campuses year round.

Teaching Quality
-- Reformed tenure laws.

http://forward.tn.gov/stateofthestate/files/2012StateoftheStateAddress.pdf

+ Postsecondary Institutions--Community/Technical Colleges
6
+ Postsecondary Participation--Enrollments (Statistics)
2
+ Postsecondary Success--Completion
3
+ Postsecondary Success--Completion--Completion Rates (Statistics)
4
+ Postsecondary Success--Transfer/Articulation
1
+ Promising Practices
1
+ Promotion/Retention
3
+ Reading/Literacy
12
+ Rural
1
+ Scheduling/School Calendar
3
+ Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs
1
+ School Safety
2
+ School Safety--Bullying Prevention/Conflict Resolution
1
+ School/District Structure/Operations--Facilities
4
+ School/District Structure/Operations--Transportation
1
+ Special Education
2
+ Special Populations--Immigrant Education
1
+ Standards
2
+ Standards--Common Core State Standards
2
+ State Policymaking
7
+ STEM
6
+ Student Achievement
7
+ Teaching Quality
6
+ Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure
2
+ Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Alternative
1
+ Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Highly Qualified Teachers
1
+ Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Natl. Bd. for Prof. Teach. Stds.
1
+ Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay
2
+ Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Pay-for-Performance
6
+ Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Retirement/Benefits
6
+ Teaching Quality--Evaluation and Effectiveness
16
+ Teaching Quality--Induction Programs and Mentoring
1
+ Teaching Quality--Preparation
3
+ Teaching Quality--Professional Development
2
+ Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention
2
+ Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention--At-Risk Schools
3
+ Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention--High-Needs Subjects
1
+ Teaching Quality--Reduction in Force
1
+ Teaching Quality--Tenure or Continuing Contract
10
+ Technology--Computer Skills
2
+ Urban--Change/Improvements
1
+ Youth Engagement
1
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