2014 Governor's State of the State speeches: on Education

Bobby Jindal: $141M more to train students for the jobs of the future

We have tens of thousands of jobs in the pipeline that must be filled, and our next challenge is to ensure we have the skilled workforce to fill these jobs of the future. Economists have recently said they have never seen an industrial expansion like the one under way in Louisiana, but have also warned that we must do a better job training skilled workers that will be needed to fill the demand for jobs at the major industrial and high tech projects coming to Louisiana.

That's why our top priority this legislative session must be making sure we have the resources to prepare our students and train them for the jobs of the future.

In order to help meet this goal, our budget for next year will increase total higher education funding by over $141 million. This funding includes a new higher education workforce incentive initiative of $40 million that will better prepare Louisiana students to compete in the new global economy.

Source: 2014 State of the State address to the Louisiana legislature Mar 10, 2014

Rick Scott: $80M for state colleges; hold the line on tuition at $10K

We are recommending $80 million in our budget this year for those colleges and universities who graduate students best positioned to get a job.

We are changing how we fund higher education but if we want to make higher education more accessible to low and middle-income families, we have to make it more affordable.

Last year, I vetoed a tuition increase that would have taken a total of more than $42 million from Florida families. And, this year, we want to get rid of the 15% annual increase and inflationary increase on tuition.

My commitment to every family dreaming to send their children to college is simple: We will hold the line on tuition.

Parents saving for their children to get a four-year degree from a public university today need to save over $53,000. We shouldn't celebrate how accessible higher education is until we can make it more affordable. That's why I am proud that all of Florida's 4-year state colleges now offer bachelor's degrees for only $10,000.

Source: 2014 State of the State Address to Florida legislature Mar 4, 2014

Bill Haslam: Drive to 55: 55% get post-HS certificate or degree by 2025

In the year 2025, 55 percent of Tennesseans will need a certificate or degree beyond high school to get a job. Today, only 32 percent of Tennesseans qualify. To truly be America at its best, that's not good enough.

This time last year, I announced the Drive to 55--our effort to reach at least 55 percent by 2025. This isn't just about higher education--it's about better jobs for more Tennesseans. It's about building a stronger economy. I have spent a lot of time over the past two years on workforce readiness. I am more convinced than ever that our urgent needs are in the areas of access, quality and relevance. To tackle these, our Drive to 55 initiative focuses on five key goals:

Getting students ready;
Getting them into school;
Getting them out of school;
Finishing what we started with adult students; and
Tying education directly to workforce needs.

Source: 2014 State of the State address to Tennessee legislature Feb 3, 2014

Sean Parnell: Digital Teaching Initiative: video conference remote schools

What more can we do to prepare these children for life after high school? First, we must recognize our students need 21st century classrooms to compete in a 21st century economy. Our Alaska Digital Teaching Initiative will give our young people access to high-quality teachers and instruction.

Today, eight districts use video conferencing to reach our more remote schools. Course instruction is delivered in real time, so students can take courses not otherwise available to them.

The Alaska Digital Teaching Initiative will empower our teachers to reach beyond their own classrooms and districts. Digital teaching can bring together students from Tanana and Ruby with Fairbanks students. Not only will students have access to a more diverse array of classes, they will have access to a more diverse array of insights.

Source: 2014 State of the State Address to Alaska legislature Jan 22, 2014

Sean Parnell: Put school choice to the people for a Constitutional vote

Alaska's Constitution says no money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution. The question of school choice is not about religious schools; it is about whether parents should have the freedom to say what school best meets their child's education needs with their child's share of public money--their money. Wealthier Alaskans can always send their kids to private or religious schools, but others cannot.

The US Supreme Court has affirmed a parent's right to make these choices under what they call the "private choice test:" The education spending must have a valid secular purpose; the aid must go to parents and not the schools; the education program must be neutral with respect to religion; and there must be adequate non-religious options.

[We should put this issue to] the people for a vote. On this question--whether parents ought to have a greater say in their child's education--it is time legislators let Alaskans decide.

Source: 2014 State of the State Address to Alaska legislature Jan 22, 2014

Jay Inslee: $1.2B for automatic COLA adjustments for teachers

[In the recent court ruling] the court wrote that it wants to see "immediate, concrete action, not simply promises." I agree. Promises don't educate our children, and promises don't satisfy our constitutional and moral obligations. We need to put several billion dollars more into funding our K-through-12 education system. I propose a plan to make an investment of about $200 million in our schools this session. Most of that will go directly to your local school districts. It will also fund a long-overdue cost-of-living adjustment for our educators this session. Washington voters spoke loudly in 2000, saying that educators should get this COLA every year. Yet repeatedly that mandate has been shunted aside. We're going to live up to that promise this year. Last year I proposed a $1.2 billion down payment on our obligation to schools, funded mostly by closing tax breaks. The court now says what we did wasn't enough and the need for immediate action could not be more apparent. Source: 2014 Wash. State of the State address Jan 14, 2014

Andrew Cuomo: Replace 1950s bureaucracy with 2020 performance organization

The best long term economic development strategy is to have the best education system in the world, period, and that is our focus. We are in the midst of an education reinvention. Replacing a 1950's bureaucracy with a 2020 performance organization, we formed the new New York education reform Commission; they have called for a full day Pre-K, extending school days and for performance pay. The next step now in our journey is to reinvent our classrooms with new technology. We must transform our classrooms from the classrooms of yesterday to the classrooms of tomorrow.

Let's invest in the future; let's reimagine our classrooms for the next generation; let's have the smartest classrooms in the nation because our children deserve nothing less than the best. Let's go to the people of this state, with a bond referendum with a smart schools initiative lets invest $2 billion in providing the technology of tomorrow today to bring our classrooms up to speed.

Source: 2014 New York State of the State speech Jan 8, 2014

Butch Otter: Replace "K-thru-12" with "K-thru-Career"

My education task force recognized the importance of the increased academic rigor we will see by successfully implementing the Idaho Core Standards. The task force recommendations are already inspiring promise to make the idea of "K-through-12" education obsolete. The standard for Idaho's commitment to education excellence and workforce readiness can perhaps better be characterized as "K-through-Career." It is a straightforward but profound way of describing our goals for building out and maintaining a continuum of education and training opportunities. It is a formula that emphasizes local autonomy and accountability as the keys to success not only for our schools but also for our communities, our economy, and most importantly for our students. Source: 2014 Idaho State of the State speech Jan 6, 2014

The above quotations are from 2014 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 Earl Ray Tomblin on Education. Click here for more quotes by Andrew Cuomo on Education.
*Candidates and political leaders on Education:*
*Retired Senate as of Jan. 2015:* GA:Chambliss(R) IA:Harkin(D) MI:Levin(D) MT:Baucus(D) NE:Johanns(R) OK:Coburn(R) SD:Johnson(D) WV:Rockefeller(D) *Resigned from 113th House:* AL-1:Jo Bonner(R) FL-19:Trey Radel(R) LA-5:Rod Alexander(R) MA-5:Ed Markey(D) MO-9:Jo Ann Emerson(R) NC-12:Melvin Watt(D) SC-1:Tim Scott(R)	*Retired House to run for Senate or Governor:* AR-4:Tom Cotton(R) GA-1:Jack Kingston(R) GA-10:Paul Broun(R) GA-11:Phil Gingrey(R) HI-1:Colleen Hanabusa(D) IA-1:Bruce Braley(D) LA-6:Bill Cassidy(R) ME-2:Mike Michaud(D) MI-14:Gary Peters(D) MT-0:Steve Daines(R) OK-5:James Lankford(R) PA-13:Allyson Schwartz(D) TX-36:Steve Stockman(R) WV-2:Shelley Capito(R)	*Retired House as of Jan. 2015:* AL-6:Spencer Bachus(R) AR-2:Tim Griffin(R) CA-11:George Miller(D) CA-25:Howard McKeon(R) CA-33:Henry Waxman(D) CA-45:John Campbell(R) IA-3:Tom Latham(R) MN-6:Michele Bachmann(R) NC-6:Howard Coble(R) NC-7:Mike McIntyre(D) NJ-3:Jon Runyan(R) NY-4:Carolyn McCarthy(D) NY-21:Bill Owens(D) PA-6:Jim Gerlach(R) UT-4:Jim Matheson(D) VA-8:Jim Moran(D) VA-10:Frank Wolf(R)
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Page last updated: Dec 07, 2018