2001 Governor's State of the State speeches: on Education

Mike Easley: Get K-12 up to levels of rest of education system

The fourth is K-12. It makes absolutely no sense that we can be a national leader in the other three categories yet lag behind in K-12. We can’t be satisfied to be a leader in most categories of education. We must be a leader in all categories of education.

We can be number one across the board. We’re making real progress. And we cannot stop now. We can’t let a budget shortfall become an education shortfall. This year, we have to break that cycle, finish the job, overcome any barrier and let those young minds flourish. We can’t make excuses.

Mike Easley: More Pre-K; smaller classes; more teacher pay

I’m proposing an initiative designed to give children the boost they need during their early learning years.
• First, the creation of a voluntary statewide pre-kindergarten [Pre-K] program to prepare at-risk four-year olds for school.
• We must reduce class size to 18 or below in grades K-3.
• We must invest in the Teaching Fellows program. We pay teachers to go to school and they pay us back by teaching school. It helps us get and keep high-quality educators.

Mike Easley: Use a lottery to fund elementary schools

I want to keep North Carolina’s money in North Carolina’s schools for North Carolina’s children. Those resources could, and should, stay home. I am not saying a lottery for education is the only solution, it’s just one solution. If anyone has another way to find the $400 - $500 million for education, I am open to it. But you can’t just say “no” we’re against a lottery-finish the sentence-tell me what you’re for, because next year 100,000 five-year olds will show up at the schoolhouse door.

Bob Wise: First priority: PROMISE College Scholarship Program

Bob Wise: Raise teacher salaries by $1,000; plus $2,500 in incentives

Let me speak directly to our educators. Your salaries have fallen to below 40th place in the nation. I commit to you tonight a multiyear effort to begin moving you back up the national ladder. We need to do more to keep the best and the brightest educators in our schools. I will commit to working with you on a strategy to develop incentives to keep experienced teachers in class longer.

Lincoln Almond: Measure school performance and report to parents

Lincoln Almond: We will not tolerate failing schools

Frank Keating: More funding for schools and colleges

Frank Keating: Supported largest teacher pay raise in state history

Frank Keating: $80M in block grants to schools

Today I propose a revolutionary system of block grants for schools that will encourage and reward success. These block grants [total] $80 million in three different areas:
1. “Matching grants” to schools that cut administrative overhead and devote more dollars to spending in the classroom.
2. “Reward grants” to recognize and support schools where learning is the focus.
3. “Improvement grants,” to help districts achieve better performance and accountability to move toward the model, what I describe as a 21st Century School Model.

Now, what will qualify for these grants?
1. Are you offering and are you requiring that each student take six academic hours a day?
2. Do you offer and do you require four years each of math, science, English, and social studies for every student?
3. Have you ended social promotion?
4. Is more money flowing to the classroom and less money going to administrative overhead?
5. And most importantly of all, are your students learning?

John Engler: Expand public school choice; lift cap on charters

It is time to allow teachers’ unions to operate charter schools. The unions that represent classroom teachers are uniquely qualified to run schools. Let’s tear down the barriers and expand public school choices.

Tommy Thompson: Let’s eradicate illiteracy in Wisconsin

Eliminating illiteracy will require the dedicated effort of us all -- from parents to teachers to employers and churches. There’s no greater legacy we can leave our next generation.

Tommy Thompson: Use Milwaukee charters & private choice as model for US

This philosophy spawned some of the nation’s most innovative education reforms. Charter schools. Public school choice. Private school choice for Milwaukee. Charter schools operated by the city of Milwaukee, UW-Milwaukee, and MPS. Nowhere in America does a parent have more choices than in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And it’s making all the difference. Parents are now more involved in their children’s lives. The public schools are rising to the challenge of competition. There is no doubt in my mind that Milwaukee will become the national model for renewing urban education in America within a few years.

Bob Holden: More resources for student and teachers

Bob Holden: Cash incentive for National Board Certification for teachers

I am recommending a $5,000 annual salary supplement for any Missouri teacher who completes this program. And those who agree to help mentor other Missouri teachers for certification would receive a ten percent salary supplement.

Bob Holden: Provide parents with school accountability report cards

Don Sundquist: Invest more in teachers and in early education

A RAND report found that Tennessee isn’t doing as well as other states in student achievement and performance goals because we’ve only invested in one of three essential ingredients. Those three essential ingredients are:
1. Reducing class size, which we are doing.
2. Early childhood education, which we do very little of.
3. Investing in teachers, which we need to do more of.

Don Sundquist: We test students & rate schools; now invest in reading

Last fall, for the first time, we posted school report cards on the web. You can log on and see test scores and gains for every public school in the state.

With all this knowledge in hand, and with the results of a literacy report commissioned by this body, now we know that it’s time to focus on reading in Tennessee. We know from test scores that our children can’t read as well as they should. We don’t want our legacy to be that we failed to solve our problems. We don’t want our legacy to be that we passed them on to the next generation because we didn’t have the courage to make the difficult choices. We must invest more in education and expect more in return.

Don Sundquist: Invest in teachers: scholarships, mentors, merit pay

We should start by investing in teachers.
• First, I propose we increase the number of scholarships and target them to people who will commit to certain subjects or school systems, depending on where we have a shortage.
• Next, let’s offer our teachers encouragement to stay in the classroom. I propose we establish a mentoring program in every school so that first year teachers have someone to turn to for guidance. And let’s pay extra to teachers who agree to put in extra time doing the mentoring.
• Let’s also offer extra pay for teachers who become Nationally Board Certified.
• I also think it’s absolutely inexcusable for teachers to have to pay for supplies out of their own pockets. To make sure that does not happen, my plan calls for doubling the amount of discretionary dollars for each teacher, [to] at least $200 a year to spend in the classroom, [with] a goal of $500 per teacher per classroom within five years.

Judy Martz: More spending; more accountability via testing

I want accountability in our schools, which is why we are moving forward on annual testing of grades, 4, 8 and 11, and compiling and disseminating results. For the first time, parents and communities will be able to compare their schools to other schools and really know where they stand.

Judy Martz: 3-Rs of education: recruit, retain, & reward teachers

My administration will focus on 4 key areas of early education:
1. Increasing resources and teacher development
2. Producing excellence with partnerships to mentor our kids
3. Providing safe learning environments
4. Implementing character education.

Ruth Ann Minner: Put reading specialists in every elementary school

Bob Taft: Implement system of standards, assessments & accountability

I am announcing a comprehensive plan: “The Building Blocks for Student Success.” It is achievable. It is workable.
• The first building block is “The Measure of Success.” When fully implemented, Ohio will have a system of standards, assessments and accountability that ranks among the best in the nation!

  “Preparing for Success” is the second building block. Early childhood education and health care will enable every child to enter school ready to learn.

  The third building block is “Classrooms Equipped for Success.” Our 12-year, $10 billion plan [is ensuring] that every child goes to class in a safe, secure school building.

• Our fourth building block, “Partners in Success,” will ensure that Ohio has highly trained teachers ready for the classroom and principals ready to lead.
• Our final building block is “Making Success Possible”-a new method of funding our schools.

Bob Taft: Ohio’s success depends on keeping education as #1 priority

Enabling every child to succeed is my number one priority. It drives our agenda and fuels my enthusiasm. Ohio will succeed in the 21st Century only if our students succeed. Already, we are well on our way:
• Our first education budget was the largest ever, investing half of new resources in education;
• Our $10 billion school building plan is the most comprehensive in the nation;
• And OhioReads has exceeded our greatest expectations.

Bob Taft: Called for 20,000 reading tutors; program is succeeding

Benjamin Cayetano: $290M for school capital improvements

Kenny Guinn: $23M for new teacher’s college at Henderson

Kenny Guinn: $10M for reading teachers; all kids read by 3rd grade

Tonight, I am going back to the basics just as I did when I was Superintendent. I am establishing a new statewide goal -- that all Nevada children be able to read by the end of the third grade. To start us toward this goal, I am allocating $10 million for a teacher-training program that focuses on reading techniques that have proven successful in early grades.

Frank O'Bannon: Standards worked for math & English; apply to other subjects

Before the creation of the Roundtable, the Fordham Foundation gave Indiana an F for English and a C for math. So, we worked together to rewrite those standards. The result: We now have some of the highest English and math standards in the nation. And the Fordham Foundation now gives Indiana standards an A for English, an A for math, and an A for science.

Make no mistake. The Roundtable’s work is not done. It is now helping re-write our geography, economics, civics and history standards so they too will be among the highest in the nation. And it is now focusing on quality teaching.

Frank O'Bannon: $50 million for flexible school readiness program

My “Ready to Read” initiative includes funding for reading assessments, summer programs, reading institutes, and a tutor for every child struggling to read. Since our children will now be required to meet the highest math standards in the country, Algebra will be the key to their success. That’s why I have proposed a middle school summer math program to expand learning time.

But that’s not all. Within this $50 million initiative, we will also create 500 master reading and math teachers in the schools that need them the most. And the 50 schools that make the most improvement in reading and math will be rewarded.

Mike Leavitt: Emphasize market relevance in state colleges

Let this be the beginning of a new emphasis on market relevance in the allocation of resources at our colleges and universities. I have proposed an aggressive building program to add the physical capacity on our campuses, and funding to assure we have qualified faculty and up-to-date equipment. We need 15,000 engineering and computer science students by 2005.Our economic future depends on it.

Mike Leavitt: 14.8% increase in funding for public education

Mike Leavitt: U-PASS: Accountability and skills testing in every grade

Mike Johanns: $27M for state colleges’ recruitment & diversity

The investment I propose for the University and the State Colleges is aggressive. My budget provides an increase of over $26.6 million additional dollars in the first year of the budget with another $29.4 million added in the second year of the budget. At the same time, I challenge higher education in Nebraska, including the University, State Colleges, and Community Colleges, in three key areas:
1. to encourage and actively recruit every Nebraska high school graduate to stay in Nebraska for his or her college education;
2. to promote diversity among students and staff in higher education by actively recruiting students not only from across the United States but from around the world; and
3. to promote collaboration, cooperation, and innovative partnerships which will ensure unparalleled educational opportunities for our students.

Mike Johanns: More teacher bonuses and incentives, locally decided

I [support] the Attracting Excellence to Teaching Program [which] will provide loans to teacher education students who agree to teach in Nebraska public or private schools. [And I support] The Master Teacher Program will provide an annual financial incentive for public and private school teachers who achieve rigorous national certification. However, the one-size fits all across-the-board bonus plan suggested by the Teacher Salary Task Force is not a workable solution. I suggest these guiding parameters for discussion:
• One size fits all is not the solution
• Any solution must respect local decision-making
• Cooperation must exist between local and state government
• Equalization between districts is an important goal that should not be abandoned
• The solution must fit within our current resources - I will not support a tax increase
• Where possible, within constitutional parameters, private school teachers should be able to participate in any state level programs.

William Owens: Teacher merit pay; student standards; smaller class sizes

On the critical issue of reducing class size, [I propose] that, over the next decade, schools use new funding first to reduce K-3 class size to 17 students.

Gary Locke: Reduced class size, despite legislative opposition

Gary Locke: Teacher merit pay; less rules for certification

• I propose to waive regulations for schools that want to set even higher achievement standards and to reward schools for meeting those goals.
• Exceptional teachers deserve exceptional compensation. My proposal calls for select school districts to lead the way and design a new teacher compensation system based on knowledge, skill and performance.
• To further encourage great teaching, and to increase the number of great educators, we will adopt alternative certification programs for teachers. If a Microsoft retiree wants to teach math she should be able to do so without going back to college for an education degree. The Professional Standards Board we created just six months ago has devised a quicker method for qualified people to get into the classroom. So a person can retire from one profession in May and be teaching in September.

Jim Geringer: $10M per year for college merit scholarships

Jim Geringer: $26M for professional and vocational skills training

The most influential factor in attracting new and expanding business to Wyoming will be the quality of our people and their skills. Our challenge is to continue to provide enough skilled labor that meets business needs. We are achieving the diversity of economic growth we always hoped for and now find ourselves competing in a regional and national market for the most valuable resource - people with the right skills. I am recommending increases in several key areas to attract and keep our citizens’ professional and vocational skill levels highly competitive.
• Workforce development funds for company specific training $6M
• Wyoming National Guard Education Assistance Plan $2M
• The Horizon Merit Scholarships for students attending UW and the Horizon Careers Scholarships for students attending community college $10M
• Funding for the Community College Workforce Training Compact $ 0.3M
• Upgrading our teachers skills in education technology $4.2M
• State employee training $3.7M

Jim Geringer: Reform Charter School law to allow real parental choice

Jim Gilmore: College scholarships for every qualified needy student

I believe every high school graduate who wants the opportunity to earn a college education should be able to afford that opportunity. Two years ago, we provided our colleges and universities with an additional $75 million to cut tuition by 20% and then freeze it at that level. We’re already seeing results. But we must work to make a college education even more affordable.
1. I propose beginning to meet 100% of the true financial need of every college student. This will ensure that even our neediest students have the opportunity to earn a college degree.
2. I propose a merit-based New Century Scholarship. Beginning with the graduating class of 2004, this program will provide a $3,000 scholarship to the top 20 students in each class and a $500 scholarship to each student for an advanced score on an end-of-course test. New Century Scholarships will give the children of working parents-a part of our society that is too often forgotten-an incentive and opportunity to succeed.

Jim Gilmore: Expand Algebra Readiness Initiative; hire more teachers

Jim Gilmore: Raise teacher pay with local funds

Mike Huckabee: First priority: Raise teacher salaries

Dirk Kempthorne: Reading Initiative: 90% of 3rd graders reading by 2004

Dirk Kempthorne: Exit standards for high school via SAT-like exam

And I’m going to suggest to you that we no longer use the term “exiting standards” with regard to these students. These are achievement standards. A model that I’m suggesting to the State Board of Education is similar to the SAT format, where a student who does not succeed on the first test will have the opportunity to study further and then take it again.

In fact, you may have three bites at the apple. And there’s no penalty if you take the test again. In fact, maybe you’ve already passed it, but you’d still like to take it again and improve on your scores. But our students are going to know what’s necessary for graduation, and they will have to pass the test to receive their diploma.

Dirk Kempthorne: Supports charter schools and innovative classrooms

I support and I believe in charter schools. In essence, what we have created with this program in schools throughout the state are charter classrooms for $500 each. It worked [because] we encouraged innovation without a guaranteed result and without penalizing failure.

Jane Dee Hull: Students FIRST: Build more schools; maintain existing ones

Jane Dee Hull: Supports Prop. 301, raising taxes for use in schools

Parris Glendening: Began the Golden Age of School Construction ($1.6B)

Parris Glendening: Make tuition an anachronism: free college for all

We must be mindful, however, that much of our work together was merely to “catch up” to where Maryland should have been. Higher education bore a disproportionate burden of budget cuts in the recession of the early 1990s. We are just now fully recovering. Having brought stability to our colleges and universities, we must look towards the future with a determination to go beyond the status quo with dramatic, bold steps.

I want the word ‘tuition’ to be seen as an anachronism. All children will move into college just as they now move from junior high to high school. Maryland’s institutions of higher education will be among the best in the country.and they will be free.

Roy Barnes: End social promotion

We should do this in fairness to our teachers, because accountability is a two-way street. And if we are going to insist on accountability for our schools, we must insist that no student be promoted to the next grade level until he is proficient in the subject matter he was supposed to learn that year. But mostly, we should do it in fairness to those students who are passing through our system today without learning what they need to know. By promoting a child who is not really ready, we say, “It’s OK if you don’t learn.” Well, I say, it is not okay.

Jesse Ventura: Take over general education costs & eliminate local tax

Jesse Ventura: Support school districts that think and act outside the box

Ronnie Musgrove: Remove the 5% cap on teacher pay

Ronnie Musgrove: Universities: settle the Ayers Case

The above quotations are from 2001 Governor's State of the State speeches. Click here for definitions & background information on Education. Click here for other issues (main summary page). Click here for more quotes by Mike Johanns on Education. Click here for more quotes by Mike Huckabee on Education.
Candidates and political leaders on Education:
Gubernatorial Debates 2020: DE: vs.Carney(incumbent) vs.Williams(D) IN: vs.Holcomb(incumbent) vs.Melton(D) vs.Myers(D) MO: Parson(incumbent) vs.Galloway(D) vs.Neely(R) MT: Bullock(retiring) vs.Fox(R) vs.Perry(R) vs.Gianforte(R) vs.Stapleton(R) vs.Olszewski(R) vs.Neill(D) vs.Schreiner(D) vs.Cooney(D) vs.Williams(D) NC: Cooper(incumbent) vs.Forest(R) vs.Grange(R) ND: Burgum(incumbent) vs.Coachman(R) vs.Lenz(D) NH: Sununu(incumbent) vs.Volinsky(D) vs. fsFeltes(D) PR: Rossello(D) vs.Garced(D) vs.Pierluisi(D) UT: Herbert(retiring) vs.Huntsman(R) vs.Cox(R) vs.Burningham(R) vs.Newton(D) vs.Hughes(R) VT: Scott(incumbent) vs.Holcombe(D) vs.Zuckerman(D) WA: Inslee(incumbent) vs.Bryant(R) vs.Fortunato(R) WV: Justice(incumbent) vs.Folk(R) vs.Thrasher(R) vs.Vanover(D) vs.Smith(D) vs.Ron Stollings(D)	Gubernatorial Debates 2021: NJ: Murphy(D) vs.Ciattarelli(R) VA: Northam(D,term-limited) vs.Herring(D) vs.Chase(R) vs.Fairfax(D) Gubernatorial Debates 2019: KY: Bevin(R) vs.Goforth(R,lost primary) vs.Adkins(D,lost primary) vs.Beshear(D) vs.Edelen(D,lost primary) LA: Edwards(D) vs.Rispone(R) vs.Abraham(R) vs.Kennedy(R,declined) MS: Bryant(R,retiring) vs.Foster(R) vs.Hood(D) vs.Reeves(R) vs.Waller(R)
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