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 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 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 Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Fund education above inflation and enrollment. Finance - Funding Formula -- Ensure that there is a school finance formula that offers equity to all districts. P-3 - Preschool/Kindergarten -- Serve up to 6,500 new kindergartners and preschoolers. Postsecondary - Finance -- Adopt a need-based financial allocation process to support Coloradans with the highest need and incentivizes retention and timely completion. Teacher Preparation -- Continue to build the best educator pipeline in the country and attract the best and brightest people to enter teaching. Teacher Retention -- Find new ways to retain and reward current teachers. ACCOMPLISHMENTS P-3 - Reading/Literacy -- Passed an early childhood literacy program (The Read Act) which identifies struggling readers early and provides interventions so that all children can read by the end of third grade. Finance - Federal -- Received a $29.9 million "Race to the Top" grant to support early childhood education and enhance early literacy. Full Text: http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=GovHickenlooper%2FCBONLayout&cid=1251638211880&pagename=CBONWrapper 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   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 Kansas Governor Sam Brownback's 2013 State of the State Address PROPOSALS Reading/Literacy -- Ensure each of the 40,000 kindergartners is able to read proficiently by the time they reach 4th grade. The Kansas Reads to Succeed initiative has three components: First, it will provide $12 million to support innovative programs to help struggling readers.  Second, it will provide incentives to elementary schools that most successfully increase 4th grading reading scores.  Third, it will require 3rd grade students to demonstrate an ability to read before being promoted to the 4th grade.  Finance -- Submit (for legislative approval) a full two-year, balanced budget recommendation, with substantial focus on efficiency and effectiveness. x It protects base aid and increases total state funding for K-12 schools. x It maintains stable funding for higher education. x It provides funding to educate 50 additional medical doctors every year at a new, state-of-the-art medical training building at the University of Kansas Medical Center.  -- Ask the legislature to make it clear in law that defining what is "suitable provision" for public funding of education is a job for the people's elected representatives – and no one else. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Finance -- When I started as governor, we began the fiscal year with $876.05 in the bank and a projected deficit of $500 million - even after taxes had been increased.  Working with the legislature, we ended last fiscal year with a $500 million ending balance…a billion dollar swing to the good AND we paid off all of our callable bonds! https://governor.ks.gov/media-room/media-releases/2013/01/16/2013-state-of-the-state-delivered-by-governor-sam-brownback 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 Ohio Governor John R. Kasich's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Choice/P-3 Kindergarten -- Expand school choice for kindergartners who live in poverty. Finance -- Provides a total of $1.2 billion in new funds over the next two years. Ohio will be providing more in state aid to its K-12 system than they received at the height of the one-time federal stimulus money in 2011. -- Implement the school funding plan. Ohio's poorest and urban districts will get a bigger share of overall school funding than the wealthiest districts. They also get more per pupil before funding guarantees are factored in. Additionally, the poorest schools in Ohio receive $1.1 billion while the wealthiest receive less than half of that. The very poorest district will receive $7,500 per pupil-- $7,500 per pupil in the very poorest district – and the wealthiest will receive $110. The plan applies equally to all districts based on their property tax wealth and residents' income, as well as the individual characteristics of the students they serve. Vocational Education -- Give a a 16 percent increase to vocational education. -- Beef up the academics in those vocational schools ACCOMPLISHMENTS Accountability - Reporting Results -- Created the A through F Report Card, and also a building-by-building comparison. Choice -- Expanded school choice for parents with children in failing schools. Postsecondary - Performance Funding -- 50 percent of the money 4-yr universities receive from the state to run operations will to them upon a student's graduation, not on enrollment. Reimburse community colleges when students complete a courses. Reading/Literacy -- Enacted Third Grade Reading Guarantee. Full Text: http://www.governor.ohio.gov/Portals/0/2013%20State%20of%20the%20State%20Transcript.pdf Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin's 2013 State of the State Address PROPOSALS Finance -- Increase education spending by $13.5 million in order to fund recently enacted reforms. STEM -- Emphasize STEM in all levels of public education. Teacher Compensation -- Invest $8.5 million of supplemental funding to pay for teachers' health benefits. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Accountability -- Developed an A-F grading system for public schools. High School -- College and Career Readiness -- Implemented high school exit exams. -- Aligned the high school diploma with college, career and citizen ready standards. Reading/Literacy -- Put reforms into place to help ensure that every third grader can read at grade appropriate level before they advance to the fourth grade. Postsecondary -- Awarded almost 2,000 more college degrees and career tech certificates than the previous year. Technology -- Developed a new, voluntary program for schools known as "Open Range" that will be available to help schools begin their own IT consolidation efforts, improve their technology and free up more dollars in the process. Full Text: http://www.ok.gov/governor/documents/2013%20State%20of%20the%20State%20-%20Text%20as%20Prepared%20for%20Delivery.pdf Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Funding -- Put a record amount of state funding into basic education, $5.5 billion dollars, starting with early childhood programs and going all the way through grade 12. -- Add nearly $100 million dollars to be distributed to K-12 school districts. P-3 Finance/Preschool -- Add another $6.4 million dollars toward our Pre-K Counts and the Head Start Supplemental Assistance programs. This money gives an additional 3,200 children, and their families, access to quality full and part-day programs as well as summer kindergarten readiness programs. Postsecondary Finance -- Maintain full funding levels for state and state-related universities. That is $1.58 billion that will go towards these institutions. The leaders of these universities have promised to work to keep tuition increases as low as possible for students. State Policymaking -- Allow schools to plan their budgets for the coming year and make the best use of their resources. ACCOMPLISHMENTS Reading/Literacy; Student Achievement; STEM; School Safety -- Unveiled the "Passport for Learning" Block Grant, an unprecedented $1 billion dollar program enriching our public schools over the next four years. It provides maximum flexibility for school districts in four general areas: 1. "Ready by 3." The funds can go toward supporting and enhancing a quality kindergarten program that meets academic standards and enhances elementary reading and mathematics through third grade. 2. Allows schools to establish customized learning plans that allow students to learn at the pace and manner that best suits them. 3. Provides funding to invest in programs and equipment that support science and math in grades six through twelve. 4. Ensures that local schools can invest in the necessary safety and security measures Full Text: http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt?open=18&objID=1320358&mode=2 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 West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin's State of the State Address PROPOSALS Accreditation -- Develop a new system of accreditation, so all schools will be held to higher standards (completed by the State Board of Education) Attendance -- Work with the Department of Education, the courts, and DHHR to coordinate truancy reduction efforts. Online/Digital Learning -- Integrate technology and digital learning into the school system. Embrace opportunities like Project 24, an effort led by former Governor Bob Wise, that will enable the State to make the best use of technology. P-3 -- Support the efforts of the Benedum Foundation to help establish a process for defining, once and for all, the components and costs of a quality ―birth through 5 program. P-3 - Childcare -- Appropriate $17 million to preserve childcare subsidies. P-3 - Preschool -- Require every county, within 3 years, to offer full-day 4-year-old preschool. Reading/Literacy -- Ensure every new elementary teacher is specially trained in reading. -- Make sure all current elementary teachers are prepared to help all students learn to read. Scheduling - School Calendar -- free local boards of education, in consultation with staff and the community, to design a calendar meeting the needs of adequate instructional time. Teacher Certification - National Board -- Reward and pay for teachers who seek and gain re-certification for the National Board. Teacher Recruitment -- Require that superintendents give more credence to recommendations from principals and teachers about who they believe is best qualified to raise student achievement. -- Make other qualifications count, in addition to seniority, when making hiring decisions. Teacher Professional Development -- Provide quality professional development on a continual basis. The State Board of Education should have the flexibility to oversee professional development. However, it should be delivered at the local level. Vocational Education/Workforce Training -- Begin workforce training in middle school and make available more vocational training to students not planning to attend college. -- Provides students access to counseling from community and technical college staff and be engaged with employers who are prepared to hire qualified graduates. -- Make quality vocational courses that prepare students to meet the high demands of today's job market a part of every school curriculum. To assure the needed quality, require every vocational school to have at least one program that meets the rigorous requirements of the Preparation for Tomorrow program of the Southern Regional Education Board. ACCOMPLISHMENTS N/A Full Text: http://www.governor.wv.gov/media/pressreleases/2013/Documents/2013%20State%20of%20State%20Final.pdf 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 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