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 Choice of Schools 4 Choice of Schools--Charter Schools 7 District of Columbia Mayor Vincent C. Gray's 2013 State of the District Address PROPOSALS Accountability -- Clarify roles, responsibilities and expectations of both traditional and public charter schools and develop a citywide vision and roadmap for public education to: - Empower families to understand and access all aspects of our education system; - Promote equity across our education sectors so that all children, regardless of which school they attend, have the resources they need to succeed; - Plan across our education sectors in a way that ensures access to quality educational seats in every neighborhood; and - Develop a transparent way to hold District government leaders and their education partners accountable for these outcomes. Economic/Workforce Development -- Bring DC Workforce Intermediary online this spring. The intermediary will make direct connections between employers in our construction, retail and hospitality industries who have jobs to offer and qualified District residents who need them. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Economic/Workforce Development -- Revitalized the Workforce Investment Council with a broad array of experts from the public, private and non-profit sectors. Facilities -- Invested heavily in the modernization of our schools and built a number of brand new schools. P-3 Access -- Continued to make investments in early-childhood education, including opening a major Educare facility in Ward 7 last year. The District is now the first city in America where there are enough seats in publicly-supported early-childhood-education programs for all three- and four-year-olds. Special Education -- Built the capacity of public schools to serve the educational needs of children with disabilities which reduced the number of these students placed in private schools by 40 percent. Full Text: http://mayor.dc.gov/release/text-prepared-delivery-mayor-vincent-c-grays-2013-state-district-address Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Dropout Prevention -- Fund national certifications for high school students enrolled in workforce training. Choice - Charter Schools -- Pass a charter school act. Choice - Open Enrollment -- Implement an open enrollment policy. Choice - Vouchers -- Create privately funded Opportunity Scholarships for students who are below 250 percent of the poverty level and live in D and F schools districts. P-3 - Best Practices -- Fund $3 million to help Mississippi Building Blocks continue literacy research and thereby develop best practices in early education. Postsecondary -- Build new expansion at University of Mississippi's School of Medicine. With the addition of new classrooms and laboratories, each incoming class of medical students will increase to more than 160. Reading/Literacy -- End social promotion of third grade students who cannot read on a third-grade level. -- Fund $15 million to assist with literacy improvement efforts. These funds will help us train teachers on best-practices in reading instruction and will also help provide reading interventionists to help struggling third-graders and other students. Teacher Pay-for-Performance -- Reward best teachers with higher pay. Teacher Preparation --Raise the bar for new teachers by raising the entrance standard for education programs. A student must have a 21 ACT score and a minimum GPA of 3.0 to become a teacher. Why would we want anything less for our students? Teacher Recruitment - Scholarships -- Fund 200 scholarships for students who have a 28 ACT score, a 3.5 GPA, and who commit to teaching in Mississippi public schools for five years. ACCOMPLISHMENTS State Policymaking - Task Forces -- Formed a working group of educators at all levels to identify the core problems in Mississippi's public education system and develop realistic recommendations for improvement. Full Text: http://www.governorbryant.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/State-of-the-State.pdf New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Invest $8.9 billion of state aid into education ACCOMPLISHMENTS Choice -- Implemented inter-district school choice which has tripled enrollment in the last 3 years and will grow to 6,000 students next year. -- Expanded the number of charter schools in NJ to 86. -- Signed the Urban Hope Act to turn failing schools into renaissance Schools in Newark, Trenton, and Camden. Postsecondary -- Restructured higher education resulting in Rutgers being in the top 25 in research dollars and the newest member of the Big 10. -- Made new capital investments in all NJ universities for the first time in 25 years. State Policymaking - Task Forces -- Created a task force that has helped NJ develop strategies for making New Jersey's institutions more competitive. Teacher Issues - Compensation - Merit Pay -- Finalized a teacher contract in Newark that acknowledges merit-pay. Teacher Issues - Tenure -- Reformed teacher tenure. Full Text: http://nj.gov/governor/news/news/552013/approved/20130108d.html South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Start a conversation about the way we fund K through twelve schools in South Carolina.  State Policymaking -- Give voters the opportunity at the ballot box to make the constitutional change to allow governors to appoint the Superintendent of Education.  ACCOMPLISHMENTS Charter Schools -- Reaffirmed our commitment to charter schools. Alternative Teacher Certification -- Invested in innovation with a focus on both rural and urban areas through programs like Teach For America. Teacher Evaluation -- Gained more flexibility to manage and evaluate our schools and educators Full Text: http://governor.sc.gov/News/Pages/RecentNews.aspx Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Community Colleges -- Invest $16.5 million in equipment and technology related to workforce development programs at our technology centers and community colleges. -- Fund a new technical education complex at Northeast State Community College in the Tri Cities that will be directly tied to advanced manufacturing in the region. -- Build a much-needed multi-purpose classroom and lab building at Nashville State Community College. Economic/Workforce Development - Public/Private Partnerships -- Open a new state-of-the-art technology center in Smyrna that represents a unique public-private partnership with Nissan. The center won't only be committed to training employees to work at Nissan but will teach the skills that other area businesses need as well. Finance -- Committed $9 million over three years to schools in the bottom 5 percent of the state. -- Invest $45 million to build a new Community Health Facility at the University of Memphis for audiology, speech pathology and nursing. Postsecondary Access -- Partner with Western Governors University to establish "WGU Tennessee." It is an on-line, competency-based university that is geared to the 800,000 adult Tennesseans that have some college credit but didn't graduate with an associate or four-year degree. The program is unique because of its competency-based curriculum but also because of an emphasis on mentors who guide those adults through the academic process. -- Supported the The Degree Compass program at Austin Peay University. This program is designed to predict the subjects and majors in which students will be most successful. The model combines hundreds of thousands of past students' grades with current students' transcripts to make an individualized recommendation. It's inspired by companies like Netflix, Amazon and Pandora that tailor their recommendations to what their customers are looking for. Postsecondary Affordability -- Establish an endowment of $35 million using operational reserve funds from the Tennessee Student Assistance Corporation (TSAC). It is designed to provide nearly $2 million each year to support scholarships for "last dollar" scholarship programs such as tnAchieves. These scholarships fill the gaps between students' financial aid and the real costs of college including books, supplies, room and board. Postsecondary Completion -- Raise the number of Tennesseans who earn an associates' degree or higher to 55 percent by 2025. Tonight begins our "drive to 55" – a strategic initiative to have the best trained workforce in America. Postsecondary Finance -- Fully fund, for the first time, the Complete College Act outcomes formula -- Invest nearly $62 million to renovate a four building complex that will house research labs and administrative offices at The University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Memphis. Postsecondary Tuition -- Limit tuition increases to no more than 6 percent at four-year schools and no more than 3 percent at two-year schools. School Safety -- Invest $34 million is budgeted to address ongoing capital needs that can be used for increased security measures if local officials decide to do so. Special Populations - Hearing Impaired -- Invest $22 million for a new high school for the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville. Teacher Compensation -- Invest $35 million for teacher salaries. Technology -- Invest $51 million to assist locals in paying for technology transition upgrades in schools across the state – a substantial and strategic investment in our schools. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Charter Schools -- Expanded charter schools to eliminate the cap. Finance -- Increased state education spending by almost 12 percent - the second largest increase in state K-12 expenditures of all 50 states in fiscal year 2012. -- Fully funded the Basic Education Program the past two years and are doing so again this year. -- Committed $38 million over three years to schools in the bottom 5 percent of the state. This year we're adding $9 million more. Student Achievement -- Made double-digit gains in high school graduation rates and the largest aggregate gains ever in the TCAP testing scores last year. Teacher Tenure -- Addressed tenure so that a principal doesn't have to decide after three years to either fire a teacher or grant tenure. There is now a five year time period for the principal to use data more effectively to assess a teacher's performance and then allow time to give that teacher the additional support that he or she needs to improve to earn tenure. Full Text: http://www.tn.gov/stateofthestate/files/2013/01-28-13%20State%20of%20the%20State%20Address%20-%20FINAL.pdf Texas Governor Rick Perry's State of the State Address Charter Schools -- Increase the number of public charter schools. Community Colleges/Workforce Development -- Encourage and incentivize more fast track technical certification programs. Under this framework, an individual will be able to attain certain certification in a high-demand industry, utilizing competency-based learning to allow students to gain credit for skills they have already mastered. High School -- Give students more flexibility in the courses they take in high school to prepare them for whatever their goals may be, without sacrificing the rigorous academic standards. Postsecondary Affordability -- Offer $10,000 degrees at 13 Texas universities. -- Institute a four-year tuition freeze for incoming freshmen. Postsecondary Finance -- Give South Texas access to the Permanent University Fund. Postsecondary Finance - Performance Funding -- Tie at least a portion of state funding - a minimum of 10 percent - to be based on the number of graduates. Vouchers -- Introduce scholarship programs that give students a choice, especially those who are locked into low-performing schools. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Graduation Rates -- Graduation rates are at an all-time high - the third highest in the nation - which represents a significant turnaround from just a few short years ago. High School - Placement Tests -- 42 percent more African-American students are now taking the SAT than were participating five years ago, and 65 percent more Hispanic students. Along the same time frame, the rate of Hispanic students taking the ACT has doubled. Full Text: http://governor.state.tx.us/news/speech/18095/ Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell's 2013 State of the Commonwealth Address PROPOSALS Accountability -- Create an A-F school ranking scale to empower parents and students to demand excellence -- Establish a statewide Opportunity Educational Institution to provide a high quality education alternative for children attending any chronically underperforming public elementary or secondary school. The Opportunity Educational Institution will be a new statewide school division to turnaround failing schools. If a school is consistently failing, the Opportunity Educational Institution will step in to manage it. If the school has failed for two years, the Institution can take it over and provide a brand new approach to a broken system. Choice of Schools -- Pass a Constitutional amendment to allow the state Board of Education to authorize charter applicants. -- Eliminate the requirement that local school boards who originate a charter school application must first apply for authorization from the state Board of Education. Finance -- Add another $50 million to more than double our rainy day fund from $304 million to nearly $740 million by the end of this biennium Reading/Literacy -- place one reading specialist in each school that scores below 75% in the 3rd grade Standard of Learning test Special Education -- fully fund the state share for staffing standards for blind and visually impaired students Teaching Quality -- recruit, incentivize, retain and reward excellent teachers and treat them like the professionals that they are. Give teachers their first state supported pay raise since 200. Budget amendments provide over $58 million for a 2% pay raise for all SOQ [standards of quality] funded instructional personnel. --Implement the Educator Fairness Act to streamline the bureaucratic grievance procedure to benefit teachers and principals. Extend the probationary period for new teachers from three to five years, and require a satisfactory performance rating as demonstrated through the new performance evaluation system to keep a continuing contract. -- Provide funding to support new teachers who teach science, technology, engineering, or mathematics in our middle and high schools -- Provide $15 million for school districts to reward their well-performing educators. This strategic compensation plan based on a model developed in the Salem school system will be implemented through local guidelines that best fit each school division's unique characteristics -- Start the Teach for America program in the Commonwealth. -- Propose a new method to obtain waivers from bureaucratic red tape, putting the algebra readiness and early reading intervention initiatives into the SOQ, and expand character education and youth development programs. Postsecondary -- Make college more affordable and accessible by increasing TAG grants from $2800 to $3100 per student. This will benefit up to 21,000 Virginians. Target an additional $31 million for our public colleges and universities to continue to add more slots for in-state students, and bring tuition rate increases down. I've asked our college presidents and boards to further increase operating efficiencies and keep 2013 tuition increases for in-state students to no more than the CPI to help lower student debt. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Finance -- Three years ago, we closed a cumulative budget shortfall of $6 billion, without raising taxes. The results: Three consecutive budget surpluses, totaling $1.4 billion. -- Audited multiple state agencies, finding over $1 billion dollars and bolstering efficiency. We eliminated and consolidated dozens of boards, commissions, agencies and programs -- Increased the percentage of K-12 funding going into the classroom from 62% to 64% -- Reformed and stabilized the Virginia Retirement System. While other states march towards pension insolvency, we put the most new funding in history in the system, and our reforms will reduce the system's total unfunded liabilities $9 billion by 2031. Postsecondary and Economic Development Our 2011 landmark "Top Jobs for the 21st Century" higher education reform legislation has made the college dream more affordable and accessible. Our bold statutory goal of 100,000 new degrees over the next 15 years, with a focus on STEM-H degrees, is supported by more than $350 million for higher education over three years. Over the past two years we've added over 3,800 slots for undergraduate in-state students, and tuition increases this year averaged 4%, after a decade of double digit increases. High School -- Graduation rates are up. The statewide dropout rate has fallen by more than 25 percent. Reading/Literacy Ended social promotion to 4th grade if students cannot read well School Safety -- Established a School and Campus Safety Task Force to review all security policies in effect in our schools and colleges, and to make initial recommendations by January 31st. STEM There are now more STEM teachers and programs and less bureaucracy. Full text: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/news/viewRelease.cfm?id=1591 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