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 2 Accountability--Rewards 2 Accountability--School Improvement 3 Assessment--High Stakes/Competency 1 At-Risk (incl. Dropout Prevention) 6 Attendance 1 Bilingual/ESL 1 Business Involvement 2 Career/Technical Education 4 Choice of Schools 3 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 Curriculum--Foreign Language/Sign Language 1 Curriculum--Mathematics 1 Economic/Workforce Development 18 Alabama Governor Robert Bentley's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Continue to fund the Reading Initiative, AMSTI, Distant Learning and Advanced Placement. P-3 - Preschool -- Increase funding and expansion of voluntary Pre-K programs.  Administered by the Office of School Readiness, local, voluntary Pre-K programs may apply for grants but will be required to meet certain criteria.  School Improvement -- Address and turn around chronically failing schools. School Safety -- Develop a strategic plan for preventing and responding to incidents of active shooters.  Teacher Compensation -- Offer a two-and-a-half percent pay raise for teachers and support personnel. ACCOMPLISHMENT Economic/Workforce Development -- Launched a statewide effort to bring education and business together so our workforce will not only be well-trained, but also highly skilled by creating the College and Career Ready Task Force.  P-3 - Preschool -- Alabama's Voluntary Pre-K program once again is ranked Number One in the nation by the National Institute for Early Education Research. Teacher Issues -- Formed a Teacher Cabinet.   Full Text: http://www.governor.alabama.gov/news/news_detail.aspx?ID=7528 Delaware Governor Jack Markell's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Economic/Workforce Development -- Develop a Delaware Skills Bank – an inventory of essential tasks for in-demand occupations in the state – and use it to ensure that training programs provide workers with the right opportunities. Once workers have completed the training they need to fill in-demand jobs, make sure that employers know it, by providing these workers with a Career Readiness Certificate that employers respect and trust. Dropout Prevention Implement the Youth ChalleNGe program supported by the Delaware National Guard. This is a residential program for a couple dozen Delaware high school dropouts. Through education and mentoring from Guard members, the program targets young people who can get back on a path to a degree and a rewarding life and career. And because Maryland has all of the necessary facilities and because the Department of Defense picks up 75 percent of the cost, this is a very cost-effective way to serve these young people. Health -- Increase ten-fold the number of trained, front line mental health personnel in our middle schools. P-3 -- On track to increase from 20 to 80 the percentage of high need children in child care enrolled in quality-rated early learning programs. School Choice -- Create a best-in-class information system on Delaware's schools that provides a clear picture of the different strengths in each school. -- Give parents the option of a common application to make it easier to apply to multiple schools. Teacher Compensation -- Re-examine that pay structure in order to incentivize teaching in high-need schools and critical subjects, raise starting teacher pay, and reward teacher leadership. Teacher Preparation -- Strengthen the standards for entry into the teaching profession.   -- Introduce rigorous exit assessment for our preparation programs, which includes demonstration of content knowledge as well as teaching skills. Teacher Retention -- Create a Teacher Leaders role which will keep excelling teachers in the classroom by encouraging them to be role models in their schools, and earn more for putting their experience to work in the classroom. Youth Engagement -- Provide more opportunities for after-school and summer activities that get kids off the streets and give them exposure to the arts, nature, and physical activity and ensure the staff running these activities receive training in suicide prevention. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Health - Suicide Prevention -- Funded new training for front line school personnel in Kent and Sussex Counties to recognize early signs of trauma in children, and we worked together with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine to offer the highest-quality training to all of our high schools in detection and prevention of depression in teenagers. Student Achievement/Graduation Rates -- Moved thousands of students from below or average to higher levels of achievement.  -- Steadily improved graduation rates. -- Increased number of high school students taking advanced coursework. Curriculum - Foreign Language -- Started 340 students in a world language immersion program. Ten thousand Delaware students will participate in the program over the next decade.  Full Text: http://governor.delaware.gov/speeches/2013stateofthestate/2013_sots_address.shtml 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 Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's 2013 State of the State Address PROPOSALS P-3 -- Fund 10 days additional pre-K days in the 2014 school year (doing so also increases salaries). Finance -- Provide $156M in additional funding for enrollment growth in K-12 schools in FY2013.  For next year [2014], there will be $147 million for enrollment growth and salary increases for teachers based on training and experience. There is also an additional $41 million to fully fund the revised Equalization formulas adopted last year. -- Change the 1985 funding formula to modernize the way we spend tax payer dollars so that we can produce more positive results in our public schools. Governance and Accountability -- Use legislation to solve the problem of Georgia having too many school boards placed under the sanctions of potential loss of accreditation. While this is a very serious matter, it is somewhat ironic that the loss of accreditation can only be based on governance issues and not on substandard academic progress of the school system. Reading/Literacy -- Include $1.6 million in this year's budget to continue the reading mentor program. Economic/Workforce Development -- Focus more funds within our HOPE Grant Program toward occupations where we know jobs are available and shortages actually exist. Currently, there are several thousand jobs available for individuals with a commercial driver's license. There are similar shortages in the areas of nursing and early childhood education. In order to fill these vacancies we suggest directing additional funds within our Technical College HOPE Grants so that over 90 percent of the tuition costs in these programs will be provided. Postsecondary --Increase the Hope Scholarship by 3% over last year, bringing the total funds going to Hope in FY 2014 to nearly $600 million -- Fully consider the Higher Education Funding Commission's recommendation for change from enrollment-based funding to outcomes-based funding in our university and technical colleges. ACCOMPLISHMENTS P-3 -- Designated by the National Institute for Early Education Research as having 10 out of 10 in measures of quality. Georgia was one of only five states to receive such a designation. Reading/Literacy -- Focused on literacy by designating $1.6M to establish a reading mentor's program that was designed to grow the percentage of Georgia's children who are reading on grade level by the 3rd grade. Full text: http://gov.georgia.gov/press-releases/2013-01-17/deal-focus-foundations-strengthen-georgia   Idaho Governor C.L. "Butch" Otter's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Increase K-12 funding in budget State Policymaking - Task Forces - School Improvement -- Assemble a broad cross-section of stakeholders to study the message voters sent (2012 propositions on ballot rejected by voters) and identify elements of school improvement on which there is broad agreement. Postsecondary/Workforce Demands -- Continue to create an aerospace center in Coeur d' Alene at North Idaho College to meet workforce demands of a growing industry in the Panhandle. -- Continue development an industry certified software developer program at College of Western Idaho to help address a chronic shortage of qualified workers for the growing technology sector in Treasure Valley. -- Continue to build an $8.5 million Applied Technology and Innovation Center. -- Continue the establishment technology learning and innovation centers for teachers at the University of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene University. -- Fund rural rotation training for each of the 24 participants in the Internal Medicine Residency program and Boise VA Medical Center. -- Fund five additional seats in the WWAMI collaborative medical school program at the University of Washington, to go to students in the Targeted Rural and Under-Served Track or TRUST program. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Postsecondary/Workfoce Demans -- Opened a Professional Technical Education Center in Tampa, belonging to College of Western Idaho. For Full Text: http://gov.idaho.gov/mediacenter/speeches/sp_2013/State%20of%20the%20State%202013.pdf Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's State of the State Address PROPOSALS School Safety -- Pass legislation that will require every school in the state to practice active safety drills that will prepare them for even the worst. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Accountability -- Improved school report cards. Economic/Workforce Development -- Trained thousands of workers for jobs in high-demand industries like healthcare, manufacturing and construction. Postsecondary Access - Immigrant Students -- Created the Illinois Dream Commission for awarding scholarships to high school graduates from immigrant families. Military -- Signed an Executive Order that directs our licensing agencies to assess military training for state license requirements. Last month, the Board of Nursing approving a suggested "bridge" curriculum for military medics to obtain LPN licenses. P-3 -- Invested $45 million to build early childhood education centers in high-need communities across Illinois, including in Carpentersville, Dolton, and Cahokia. School Safety -- Convened a School Safety Summit with education, public safety, mental health and law enforcement leaders to identify better ways to protect our schools. Teacher Evaluations/Tenure -- Set clear benchmarks for teacher evaluation and put performance above tenure. Full Text: http://www2.illinois.gov/gov/Documents/State%20of%20the%20State/State%20of%20the%20State%202013.pdf Iowa Governor Terry E. Branstad's 2013 Condition of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Permanently change the school finance formula so that "allowable growth" will be replaced by 100% state aid, meaning no longer will the school aid formula trigger automatic increases in local property taxes -- Cut the current 4% cap on valuation growth for residential property and agricultural land in half to two percent and apply it to all classes of property. Quality Teachers and Leaders -- Update the teaching system by elevating the teaching profession with a new teacher leadership and compensation structure that provides five career pathways in order to offer new professional opportunities -- Implement the Teach Iowa Initiative to recruit top students to become teachers. Increase beginning teacher pay by 25%, from $28,000 to $35,000 per year, and attract top students with a priority placed on hard-to-hire subjects, like math and science, with awards also going to future teachers in other majors as well. This initiative includes a pilot to expand the traditional one-semester of student-teaching to a year-long apprenticeship in partner schools.  Stronger clinical experiences stand to better prepare future teachers.  College and Career Readiness -- Establish a college or career ready seal that high school students may earn in addition to their diploma. Beginning next school year, students will have the option, at the state's expense, of taking a college-entrance or workforce readiness test.   ACCOMPLISHMENTS --  Launched the Governor's science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, initiative. This initiative is already enhancing learning opportunities for Iowa children by putting outstanding STEM programs in more than 800 sites statewide. --Launched Skilled Iowa to bring new workforce skills to the unemployed, under-employed, and those simply seeking better long-term careers. This initiative initiative builds on the STEM program to ensure workers get the skills they need to fill the high-paying jobs of today and tomorrow. Already, 2,400 Iowa businesses have signed up for Skilled Iowa and 18,000 Iowans have used Skilled Iowa resources to certify their skills with a National Career Readiness Certificate.  Link to full text: https://governor.iowa.gov/2013/01/%E2%80%9Cour-opportunity-our-iowa-%E2%80%9D-gov-terry-e-branstad-delivers-2013-condition-of-the-state-address/ Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Health -- Add another 90-some thousand recipients dental coverage through the Healthy Kids Dental program P-3 - Preschool -- Make a major budget commitment to get as many kids as possible into the Great Start Early Childhood program (29,000 students currently eligible). State Policymaking/Workforce Development -- Hold a state-wide Education Summit in April with a focus on future employment needs are and future career opportunities, and have a great discussion about how to do a better job on supplying the talent. Student Supports - Counseling -- Extend Pathways to Potential program to 135 schools. Sending social worker's (calling them Success Coaches) out to work in 21 local public elementary schools in the cities with the highest crime and the biggest challenges to support students. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Accountability - School Improvement -- Created the Educational Achievement Authority which took 15 schools that were among the most persistently failing and put them into a system of schools, not a school district, but a system of schools to put the most resources possible in the classroom. Extended the school day and school year, offered three meals a day, and used a student centered learning model where the students are driving their own educational growth. In EAA there is no such thing as failing a grade; there is only a question of how long it takes you to master a level. The Gates Foundation gave the program one of their Break Through Awards for innovation in education. Autism -- Passed legislation that put evidenced-based systems in place that can materially improve the quality of life for autistic children. Civic Engagement -- Initiated the Summer Youth Initiative whereby young people were put to work in foremost challenged communities. Health -- Offered dental coverage to over 440,000 people in Michigan through the Healthy Kids Dental program. Student Supports -- Implemented Pathways to Potential program. Sending social worker's (calling them Success Coaches) out to work in 21 local public elementary schools in the cities with the highest crime and the biggest challenges to support students. Full Text: http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/2013-2014/Journal/house/pdf/2013-HJ-01-16-002.pdf Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Economic/Workforce Development -- Increase funding for workforce training that's custom-tailored to the needs of Missouri employers. Finance -- Increase funding for education by $150 million. -That's $17 million more for early childhood education. -That's $34 million more for higher education. -And that's $100 million more for our K-12 classrooms. -- Issue bonds that will allow the state to establish a permanent, low-interest loan fund dedicated to improving local schools.  -- Create the BOOST (Building Opportunities in Our Schools Today) Fund for investment in first-rate, 21st Century facilities: state-of- the art computers and science labs, libraries and wired classrooms.  P-3 - Preschool -- Double funding for the Missouri Preschool Program and put more money into programs like Early Head Start. Postsecondary Affordability -- Invest $75 million for Access and Bright Flight scholarships and for A+ scholarships, which cover tuition and fees at all our public community colleges.  -- Expand A+ scholarship program to every public high school in the state. Postsecondary Completion -- Help adult students finish their degrees on-line, from an accredited university that's putting down new roots in Missouri. Postsecondary Facilities -- Provide funds for cutting-edge university research facilities in areas critical to our competitiveness, such as engineering, math, and science with targeted bond issuance. Postsecondary Finance -- Tie new funding to specific performance goals - like increased student retention, higher graduation rates and improved learning. School Schedule -- Lengthen the school year (extend by 6 days). Teacher Training -- Invest in training more teachers Technology -- Invest in modern equipment. ACCOMPLISHMENT Graduation Rates -- High school graduation rate is now the seventh-highest in the nation. Postsecondary Affordability -- Expanded the A+ program to 150 more schools. Economic/Workforce Development -- Dramatically increased Missouri's investment in worker training, helping 150,000 Missouri workers sharpen their skills and get better jobs in their field. Full Text: http://governor.mo.gov/newsroom/2013/Gov_Nixon_delivers_2013_State_of_the_Address Montana Montana Governor Steve Bullock's 2013 State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Return the profits from the Lottery to the public schools they were intended to support. Finance - Investing in Facilities -- Enact the J.O.B.S. Bill, which stands for Jobs and Opportunity by Building Schools - Take advantage of historically low interest rates and immediately create thousands by making investments in educational facilities. High School and Dual Enrollment -- Commit additional funding for the Jobs for Montana's Graduates program. The graduation rate for at-risk teens involved in this program is 98%. -- Help the two-year colleges expand and enhance dual credit programs for high school students. Postsecondary Access -- Create a universal enrollment system. -- Freeze tuition across the university system. -- Invest in the university system and make certain that veterans are provided with the services and the space they need including wrap- around services that will reintegrate the veterans back into civilian life and on college campuses. Postsecondary Completion -- Increase the number of Montana adults with a post-secondary degree or professional certificate to at least 60% over the next decade. P-3 -- Expand the proven "Stars to Quality Program." Create 100 more high-quality early childhood programs and get 600 more families and 1,000 more children ready for school, annually. Technology -- Use state resources to help school districts modernize and acquire technology. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Student Achievement -- Montana 8th graders outperform every other state in the nation in reading and math, and are second in science. -- High School graduation rates are up and dropout rates are down. -- Increased the rate at which Montana residents are getting college degrees - faster than any other state in the nation. Full Text: http://governor.mt.gov/docs/STATE_OF_THE_STATE-media_release_013013.pdf Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval's 2013 State of the State Address PROPOSALS Choice -- Provide more choice of schools by giving businesses a tax credit for making contributions to a scholarship fund (an opportunity scholarship). These dollars will be distributed, on a means-tested basis, to students at low-performing schools for use in attending the school of their choice. English Language Learners -- Invest $14 million in an English Language Learners initiative. Finance -- Provide more support for autism and early intervention services -- Overall, make a new investment of $135 million in Nevada's schoolchildren. P-3 -- For pre-Three students, increase funding for early education in the state's most at risk schools. -- Aggressively expand all-day kindergarten among the state's most at-risk schools -- Allocate 20 million dollars over the biennium for this purpose. High School -- Fund the JAG program (Jobs for America's Graduates) to include up to 50 additional high schools by 2014 and to serve nearly 2,000 additional high school students. State Longitudinal Data System -- Fund a data system that links student performance to teacher effectiveness. This system is a long term investment in what will be the backbone of our approach to teacher evaluation. Teaching Quality -- Make a new investment in Teach for America to help recruit, train, develop, and place top teacher and leadership talent in Nevada. Postsecondary -- With the Chancellor's support, create new courses of study at UNR and UNLV focused specifically on the sectors targeted for economic growth -- Establish UNLV as the global intellectual hub for gaming, hospitality and entertainment -- Pair community colleges more closely with workforce needs so that they can deliver students into jobs that will be waiting for them in the new economy -- Support and extend the Kenny C. Guinn Millennium Scholarship through 2017 -- Financially support the University Cooperative Extension program in rural Nevada. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Governance -- Reinvigorated the State Board of Education. Teaching Quality -- Required performance-based evaluations for teachers -- ending teacher tenure as we know it. Full text: http://gov.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/govnvgov/Content/2013StateOfTheState.pdf New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's State of the State Address PROPOSALS State Policymaking-Commission/Teacher Evaluations/Accountability Systems -- Appoint a bipartisan education commission to work with the legislature to recommend reforms for a meaningful teacher evaluation system and a school accountability system. Postsecondary - Grant Funding -- Expand NYSUNY2020 to the remaining 60 campuses, offering challenge grants to research centers for plans to connect academic excellence and economic development. Workforce Development -- Create the Office for New Americans to assist legal permanent residents, providing adult education and job training. Civic Education -- Implement the New New York Leaders Initiative to create opportunities for the state's next generation to dedicate their careers to public service. - Student Intern Program - brings students into state government - Empire State Fellows Program - full-time leadership training program that will prepare next generation professionals who are members of underrepresented groups for careers as New York State policymakers. ACCOMPLISHMENTS -- N/A Full Text: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/01/04/nyregion/04-state-of-the-state-text.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 South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard's State of the State Address PROPOSALS College Remediation -- Redesign remediation courses so that high school students who need help can complete remediation before they enter college. Finance -- Fund the Education Enhancement Funding Corporation by refinancing the state's tobacco bonds, which were issued ten years ago as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement with tobacco companies. Special Populations - Military Families -- Offer professional licensure portability bill for military spouses. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Economic/Workforce Development -- Legislature approved South Dakota Workforce Initiative – SD WINS – 20 initiatives focused on developing the qualified workforce that will underpin our economic growth over the next decade. -- Directed economic development grants to purchase machinery to establish a new welding program at Mitchell Tech, adding 18 new training slots this year. Funded the development of an innovative new distance learning program at Lake Area Tech to deliver online distance training in welding and precision machining. Expanded the welding program at Mike Durfee State Prison in Springfield, to train 32 more inmates in this skilled trade. -- Redirected some Community Development Block Grant dollars to workforce training activities. Since implementing this change, eight grants totaling over $1 million have provided funds for training over 300 workers in jobs including certified nursing assistants, training for commercial driver licenses, and others. Full Text: http://sd.gov/governor/docs/2013%20State%20of%20State.pdf 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 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 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 Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's 2013 State of the State Address PROPOSALS Accountability -- Reward and replicate success—all across the state. Lay out plans in the budget to provide a financial incentive for high-performing and rapidly improving schools.   -- At the same time, outline a plan to help failing schools fundamentally change their structure and dramatically improve their results.  Our goal is to help each school excel, so every child in the state has access to a great education.   Reading/Literacy -- Again this year, I challenge each of you to join with me and find some time to mentor a student in reading.    ACCOMPLISHMENTS Accountability--Reporting --Released the first report card evaluating each school in the state.   Economic/Workforce Development -- Worked with the University of Wisconsin System on a new flexible degree program called UW FlexOption to help adult learners earn degrees in targeted fields. The UW FlexOption will provide a less time-consuming, less costly way to finish off a degree.  It will help prepare more people to fill the critical needs we have in the workforce.  -- Partnered with the Wisconsin Covenant Foundation to provide grants to technical colleges and employers in various regions to improve workforce development.  Finance -- Reforms gave schools and local governments flexibility to make management choices to improve their communities, while saving money.  For example, technical schools are saving millions of dollars by making simple, common sense changes to instructor schedules and overtime policies.  Reading/Literacy -- Funds in the last budget provided reading screeners to assess kids as they come into kindergarten. -- Put in place a series of other important reforms to improve our early childhood and elementary school reading skills. One other great way to help improve reading skills is by increasing the number of people who read to our kids. Last year, I challenged all of us to mentor a child as a reading buddy.    Teaching Quality --The reforms we enacted over the past two years saved school districts hundreds of millions of dollars and allowed each district to hire based on merit and pay based on performance. Full text: http://165.189.60.210/Default.aspx?Page=b5a8a449-5df3-49fa-af83-6eb2e3fdbb86 Finance 21 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 2 P-16 or P-20 1 P-3 4 P-3 Kindergarten 3 P-3 Kindergarten--Full-Day Kindergarten 2 P-3 Preschool 14 Parent/Family 1 Postsecondary 5 Postsecondary Affordability 4 Postsecondary Affordability--Financial Aid 6 Postsecondary Affordability--Tuition/Fees 3 Postsecondary Finance 9 Postsecondary Finance--Efficiency/Performance-Based Funding 6 Postsecondary Finance--Facilities 1 Postsecondary Institutions 1 Postsecondary Institutions--Community/Technical Colleges 1 Postsecondary Online Instruction 1 Postsecondary Participation--Access 3 Postsecondary Success--Completion 4 Postsecondary Success--Developmental/Remediation 1 Reading/Literacy 10 Scheduling/School Calendar 1 Scheduling/School Calendar--Extended Day Programs 1 School Safety 8 Service-Learning 1 Special Education 4 Special Populations 1 Special Populations--Military 3 Standards 1 State Longitudinal Data Systems 1 State Policymaking 4 State Policymaking--Task Forces/Commissions 5 STEM 4 Student Achievement 4 Student Supports--Counseling/Guidance 1 Teaching Quality 5 Teaching Quality--Certification and Licensure--Alternative 1 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay 5 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Pay-for-Performance 6 Teaching Quality--Compensation and Diversified Pay--Retirement/Benefits 3 Teaching Quality--Evaluation and Effectiveness 5 Teaching Quality--Preparation 3 Teaching Quality--Recruitment and Retention 6 Teaching Quality--Tenure or Continuing Contract 2 Technology 4 Technology--Devices/Software/Hardware 1 Youth Engagement 1 285