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 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 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 Alaska Governor Sean Parnell's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Accountability - School Improvement -- Focus on the low-performing schools that need the most help. Assessments -- Eliminate the TerraNova assessment, while leaving standards-based assessments in place. High School - Graduation Rates -- Raise graduation rate to 90% by 2020. Online Learning -- Offer more digital learning opportunities. Partner with school districts and the Association of Alaska School Boards on the Alaska 1-to-1 Digital Learning Initiative. Reading/Literacy -- Improve reading instruction for kindergarten through third grade. School Safety -- Continue working with local districts to improve school safety and security for Alaska's children. Teacher Evaluation -- Evaluate teachers based on student learning. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Standards -- Raised content standards. Postsecondary - Financial Aid -- Awarded Alaska Performance Scholarships to more than 4,600 young people. -- Fully funded performance Alaska Performance Scholarships. Full Text: http://www.gov.state.ak.us/parnell/press-room/full-press-release.html?pr=6345 Arizona Governor Janice K. Brewer's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Reading/Literacy -- Develop comprehensive reading assessments to identify students falling behind. -- With the help of the State, local schools will connect students with reading experts. School Safety -- Expand State funding for School Resource Officers. Accountability/Standards -- Raise standards and increase accountability for students, schools and teachers. School Finance/Accountability --Implement the nation's first comprehensive performance funding plan for districts and charter schools. This plan will reward schools that earn high marks or see real improvement in performance (Not scrapping attendance-based funding formulas but rather, augment that system with an innovative approach to promoting school performance, while maintaining local control). ACCOMPLISHMENTS School Choice -- Expanded school choice. Reading/Literacy -- Funded the Move on When Reading program. Full Text: http://www.azgovernor.gov/dms/upload/GS_011413_SOS2013.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 Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Economy -- Increase jobs in education by 114,000. Finance -- Invest to improve public education Finance - Buildings -- Invest to build new schools.  Postsecondary Access -- Offer early access to affordable college credit by letting motivated high schools students work toward both their two-year Associates Degree and their high school diploma – at the same time.   Postsecondary - Community Colleges -- Increase funding for community colleges Postsecondary - Completion -- Redesign college curricula and courses to better promote completion.  -- Move the system toward rewarding a student's competency, and not merely the years he or she spends sitting in a lecture hall.    -- Rework financial aid so that more students can afford to carry full course loads to complete their degrees on or ahead of time.  -- Give students more on-line options for earning college credit. Postsecondary Finance - Tuition -- Continue to hold down the cost of college tuition. School Safety -- Invest in security upgrades in our schools. Technology -- Invest in iPads, laptops, smart-boards, and 21st century digital learning tools.  ACCOMPLISHMENTS General -- Remained #1 in education (best public schools in America) five years in a row.   -- Record high student achievement.  -- Record high graduation rates.  -- Significantly closed the achievement gaps between white and non-white students.   -- Achieved highest Advanced Placement scores in science, technology, engineering, and math MD students have ever achieved.  -- Have the best overall AP scores of any state in the nation. Postsecondary Finance - Tuition -- Remained #1 in holding down the cost of college tuition.   Full Text: http://www.governor.maryland.gov/blog/?p=8075 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 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 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 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