2013 State of the State Addresses Education-Related Proposals by Issue

The following summary includes education-related proposals from the 2013 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 3 Accountability--Rewards 2 Accountability--School Improvement 3 Assessment--High Stakes/Competency 1 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention) 6 Attendance 2 Bilingual/ESL 1 Business Involvement 3 Career/Technical Education 4 Indiana Governor Michael R. Pence's State of the State Address PROPOSALS P-3 - Full-day kindergarten -- Increase funding for full day kindergarten. Pensions -- Fully fund teacher pensions each of the next two years. Postsecondary/Workforce Development -- Create a partnership with Indiana's life sciences industry and the universities, to spur research and produce high-paying jobs. Finance/Accountability -- Increase in funding for schools each of the next two years, with the second year based on school performance. Teacher Pay-for-Performance -- Invest $6 million in teacher excellence grants to increase pay for our high-performing teachers. Reading/Literacy -- Ensure that every third grader can read, Dropout Prevention -- Invest in highly successful dropout prevention programs like Jobs for America's Graduates. P-3 - Preschool -- Continue to expand educational opportunities, especially for those with the fewest resources, beginning with pre-K education. Expand incentives for Hoosiers to support innovative, community-driven pre-K effort for low-income children. School Choice -- Expand tuition tax deductions, removing the prior year requirement and lift means testing for foster, adopted, special needs and military families. Postsecondary - Performance Funding -- Increase funding to our state-sponsored colleges and universities and tie funding and financial aid to on-time completion. Career/Technical -- Make career, technical and vocational education a priority in every high school in Indiana. -- Create Regional Works Councils to work with business and educators across the state to develop regional, demand-driven curricula to bring high-paying career options to more Hoosiers in high school. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Accountability -- 207 schools received the highest school ranking for the first time. Forty-three schools moved up three letter grades. Twenty-eight schools moved from the lowest ranking to a mid-ranking. Full Text: http://www.in.gov/gov/2013stateofstate.htm Maine Governor Paul LePage's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Accountability -- Develop a ranking system for Maine schools. Each school will be graded A-B-C-D or F. -- Help schools that are failing and reward schools as they improve. Choice -- Give more educational options to all kids and fund schools that best fit the student's needs. State Policymaking -- Hold a Governor's Conference on Education this March. We are bringing national experts to Maine to demonstrate what other states are doing to improve education. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Career/Technical Education -- Passed legislation to strengthen vocational education. Charter Schools -- Passed charter school legislation. http://www.governing.com/news/state/maine-governor-lepage-state-of-state-2013.html Rhode Island Governor Lincoln D. Chafee's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Increase funding for higher education of $6 million if the leadership of these institutions will meet halfway. If they can achieve $6 million in total savings and efficiencies, coupled with the $6 million in additional funding, students of these schools will see no tuition increase next year. -- Provide $3 million in new state support for workforce development initiatives. -- Invest an additional $500,000 to enhance the operations of the 195 Redevelopment Commission. The medical, research, and education fields – the 'meds and eds' are important. Continue to focus on these assets to grow our economy and create jobs. School Safety -- Join with the leaders of the House and Senate to craft, introduce, and pass legislation that makes Rhode sland a safer place both for us and our children. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Career & Technical -- Allocated over $14 million to support repairs at the state's vocational education facilities. Finance --Voters approved a number of important bond items this past November. These initiatives will boost the economy by investing in some of Rhode Island's premier assets, such as the environment, institutions of higher education, and veterans' services. Full text: http://www.governor.ri.gov/ri2013/movingRIforward.pdf Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin's Second Inaugural Address PROPOSALS Career Readiness -- Focus the education of children - from grade school through college - on career readiness. -- Encourage schools to develop Personal Learning Plans that travel with each student from elementary through their senior year. These plans would help guide each student's education and also tie educational goals to career opportunities, making school more relevant. The key to this proposal is to increase our students' individual options while fostering a connection between school and career.    Health, At-Risk Students --Cover the shortfall left by the federal government, and makes free lunch available for all low-income students, including those who are currently only eligible for reduced prices. Whenever possible, these lunches should be made from local Vermont farm grown food, since we know that Vermont farmers grow the healthiest food in the nation. Mathematics -- Require that all 9th graders take algebra and all 10th graders take geometry. Dual Enrollment and Early College -- Over the past five years, state funding has provided limited access to Vermont high school students to get a head start on gaining expensive college credit by enrolling in for-credit college courses while they are in high school. Doubling the funding to expand access to all Vermont students. -- Authorize an early college initiative aimed at expanding (from 40) the number of students who simultaneously complete their senior year of high school with their first year of college. P-3 -- Strengthen commitment to funding universal early childhood education.  -- Make the largest single investment in early childhood education in Vermont's history. Redirect $17 million from the state's Earned Income Tax Credit to make high quality childcare affordable to hardworking lower-income Vermonters.  -- Ensure financial support to communities that initiate publicly funded preschool programs where they do not now exist. Provide resources for first year start up costs, after which communities offering pre-school programs will be eligible for reimbursement through the education fund. -- Invite all early childhood stakeholders to a summit to build and embrace our vision for the success of our children and their families. -- Direct the Agency of Human Services to implement an integrated plan for health promotion and prevention, beginning before birth, to ensure that all children reach their full potential. -- Do more to ensure that all our children are healthy and prepared to learn by providing pediatric, psychological, dental, nutrition and pre-school services on site.    Postsecondary Participation and Economic Development -- Address affordability with new vigor, particularly for those students who pursue degrees in the disciplines of the new economy. -- Initiate the Vermont Strong Scholars Program. It's a simple program, and here's how it works: if you enroll in any public institution of higher education in the state of Vermont and graduate with a degree in a STEM field, we will give you a helping hand to stay and work in Vermont by paying you back, over the course of five years, for your final year of tuition. Or if you graduate with an Associate's Degree in a STEM field, we will pay you back over three years for your final semester of tuition. -- Increase the state's appropriation for the Vermont State Colleges, VSAC, and UVM by three percent, to be used entirely for financial aid and scholarships for Vermonters.   -- Identify savings to guarantee affordability for students and their families and the survival of UVM and our State Colleges. -- Implement the eleven recommendations of the group I appointed last year to find ways to strengthen UVM and the State Colleges.   -- Utilize the 17 career and technical education centers around the state that provide opportunities for students and adults who need to update skills to advance their earning power. Use the centers as the foundation for Vermont Innovation Zones throughout the state. Our current funding system does not encourage centers to match the needs of regional employers.  These Innovation Zones will focus on areas of education and professional opportunity that fit the needs of their region. high schools and tech centers in the Kingdom would become an Innovation Zone and would be able to shift current generic course requirements to focus on those that provide the training the region needs. For example, the Kingdom may choose to focus heavily on engineering, hospitality, and health care courses that would result in Kingdom jobs for Kingdom kids.    Business Involvement --Call on employers to engage with the educational system at all levels. Open your businesses to our schools. Let our students interact with your employees, so they can see how they use their education every day.  Invite teachers and guidance councilors in to experience a deeper understanding of what their students need to succeed.  Engage high school and college interns. And provide opportunities for your employees to go back and further their education. ACCOMPLISHMENTS --N/A Choice of Schools 4 Choice of Schools--Charter Schools 7 Choice of Schools--Choice/Open Enrollment 2 Choice of Schools--Tax Credits 1 Choice of Schools--Vouchers 3 Civic Education 2 Counseling/Guidance 1 Curriculum--Foreign Language/Sign Language 1 Curriculum--Mathematics 1 Economic/Workforce Development 19 Finance 24 Finance--Facilities 3 Finance--Federal 1 Finance--Funding Formulas 1 Finance--Lotteries 1 Finance--Performance Funding 1 Finance--State Budgets/Expenditures 6 Finance--Taxes/Revenues 3 Governance 3 Health 2 Health--Mental Health 1 High School 3 High School--College Readiness 3 High School--Dropout Rates/Graduation Rates 1 High School--Dual/Concurrent Enrollment 2 High School--Exit Exams 1 High School--Graduation Requirements 1 Integrated Services/Full-Service Schools 1 Online Learning--Digital/Blended Learning 3 Online Learning--Virtual Schools/Courses 1 P-16 or P-20 1 P-3 4 P-3 Child Care 1 P-3 Early Intervention (0-3) 1 P-3 Finance 1 P-3 Kindergarten 4 P-3 Kindergarten--Full-Day Kindergarten 2 P-3 Preschool 16 Parent/Family 1 Postsecondary 5 Postsecondary Affordability 5 Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid 6 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees 3 Postsecondary Finance 12 Postsecondary Finance--Efficiency/Performance-Based Funding 7 Postsecondary Finance--Facilities 1 Postsecondary Institutions 1 Postsecondary Institutions--Community/Technical Colleges 3 Postsecondary Online Instruction 1 Postsecondary Participation--Access 3 Postsecondary Success--Completion 4 Postsecondary Success--Developmental/Remediation 1 Reading/Literacy 13 Scheduling/School Calendar 2 Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs 1 School Safety 9 Service-Learning 1 Special Education 4 Special Populations 1 Special Populations--Military 3 Standards 1 State Longitudinal Data Systems 1 State Policymaking 6 State Policymaking--Task Forces/Commissions 5 STEM 5 Student Achievement 5 Teaching Quality 5 Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Alternative 1 Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Natl. Bd. for Prof. Teach. Stds. 1 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay 5 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Pay-for-Performance 7 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Retirement/Benefits 3 Teaching Quality--Evaluation and Effectiveness 5 Teaching Quality--Preparation 3 Teaching Quality--Professional Development 1 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention 7 Teaching Quality--Tenure or Continuing Contract 3 Technology 5 Technology--Devices/Software/Hardware 1 Youth Engagement 1 323