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

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 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 Alabama Governor Robert Bentley's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Choice, Charter Schools --Create a limited number of charter schools. District Flexibility --Propose the School Flexibility Act of 2012, to allow more decision-making at the local level. Allow local school systems to develop their own innovative strategies, free from state or federal bureaucracy. Finance --Budget proposal includes protecting +Alabama Reading Initiative +ACCESS Distance Learning +Alabama Math Science and Technology Initiative +Advanced Placement +Pre K programs. Teaching Quality, Leadership --Ensure that every child's classroom and school is led by a highly effective, professional educator free to use their talents to create a stimulating and innovative learning environment in their own classroom. --Form a "Teacher Cabinet", made up of teachers, administrators, school board members and parents to provide the administration with unfiltered feedback on the needs of public schools. Teacher Expenditures on Classroom Supplies --Propose a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for every teacher who spends their money on their classroom. Career/Technical Education, Workforce Development --Propose new investment in Alabama's workforce development and career tech programs. ACHIEVEMENTS http://blog.al.com/bn/2012/02/alabama_gov_robert_bentleys_st.html Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Facilities -- Build modern schools. Teacher Quality - Pensions -- Split the responsibility of the pension system 50/50 between state and counties. Teaching Quality - Recruitment and Retention --Create and save 78,000 teaching jobs at public schools across the state. Postsecondary, Community Colleges - Facilities -- Build new facilities at Cecil Community College, Harford Community College and Howard Community College as well as Frostberg State and Morgan State University. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Student Achievement -- Elementary and middle school students achieved their highest ever scores on the Maryland School Assessment (MSA) in reading and middle school students achieved their highest ever scores in math. -- High school students achieved the best AP scores in the nation. -- Rated #1 best school system in nation by Education Week for four years in a row. Facilities -- Built new schools and modern classrooms. High School - Graduation Rates -- High school graduation rates reached an all-time high. Postsecondary - Enrollment -- Enrollment at Maryland's colleges and universities reached an all-time high in Fall 2011. Enrollment in 4-year institutions has grown 21% since 2005. Postsecondary - Finance -- Froze in-state tuition at state colleges and universities four years in a row and held increases to 3% for the last three years. Postsecondary - STEM -- Colleges are graduating 21% more science, technology, engineering and math students (STEM). http://www.governor.maryland.gov/documents/StateOfTheState2012.pdf Massachusetts Governor 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 South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Accountability -- Introduce new accountability system: test students at the beginning of the year, to set a baseline, in the middle of the year, to allow for a mid-course correction, and at the end. Assessments -- Require more than 2,000 high school students take the National Career Readiness Certificate test. Standards -- Common Core State Standards -- Adopt Common Core Standards -- Provide aggressive training programs for teachers on teaching the Common Core Standards. STEM and Applied Learning -- Expand the scrubs camp concept (free, one-day, hands-on training) into engineering camps and technical camps and math camps. Teaching Quality -- Evaluation, Effectiveness and Employment -- Implement the "South Dakota Investing in Teachers" initiative. -- Introduce new teacher evaluation system - consider growth in test scores, classroom evaluations and other factors. -- Provide training programs to help administrators learn new teacher evaluation system. -- End the availability of tenure, effective July 1 of this year, for anyone who doesn't have it by that date. Pay-for-Performance -- Beginning in the 2014-15 school year, identify top 20% best teachers based upon the new evaluation system and give each teacher a bonus of $5000. -- Beginning in the 2013-14 school year, pay every middle school and high school math or science teacher a bonus of $3500 every year. Postsecondary - Community/Technical Colleges, Technology, Distance Learning -- Develop hybrid courses to deliver instruction both on-line and in the lab for technical training. -- Expand the technical training (specifically, welding) in the Springfield corrections facility. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Instructional Approaches -- Hundreds of SD students have experienced the "scrubs camps" organized by the state Department of Health. Scrubs camps are free, one-day, hands-on health career camps for high school students. Student Achievement -- High school graduation rates are strong. -- High school graduates go on to post-secondary education at one of the highest rates in the nation. -- Students' test scores, ACT and NAEP, routinely exceed national averages. http://sd.gov/governor/docs/State%20of%20the%20State%20Address.pdf Washington Governor Chris Gregoire's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Accountability -- Step in and turn around schools where dropout rates are high, student performance and achievement are low, and where no progress is being made. Teaching Quality - Evaluations -- Overhaul the way teachers are evaluated by focusing on high-quality instruction, student achievement and growth. -- Provide a system to evaluate the performance of principals based on student achievement. Finance -- Lift the levy lid. -- Fund levy equalization. P-3 - Preschool, Kindergarten -- Continue implementation of all-day kindergarten for all kids. -- Create "All Start," a voluntary Washington preschool program to provide early learning opportunities to all 3- and 4-year-olds. Postsecondary - Community/Technical Colleges -- Provide funding to community and technical colleges to retrain 2,500 workers for the jobs of tomorrow. Postsecondary - Finance -- Provide four-year institutions with competitive tuition flexibility. -- Restore funding for the State Need Grant Program in order to keep the doors to higher education open to students of all income levels. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Student Achievement -- K-12 student test scores continue to rank high nationally. School Choice -- Innovative schools in cities around the state have been highly successful in raising vital math and science skills. Postsecondary - Community/Technical Colleges -- Community and technical college system is rated as one of the best in the nation Teaching Quality -- Rank fifth in the nation in board-certified educators. http://www.governor.wa.gov/speeches/speech-view.asp?SpeechSeq=213 Wyoming Governor Matt Mead's State of the State Address PROPOSALS STEM -- Continue to push STEM education. Common Core State Standards -- Accept common core standards as determined by Wyoming citizens. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Finance -- Shown a strong financial commitment to education. http://governor.wy.gov/SiteCollectionDocuments/State%20of%20the%20State%202012.pdf 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 1 356