2008 State-of-the-State Speeches

This year's state-of-the-state speeches from 44 governors (Arkansas, Montana, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Texas do not have state-of-the-state speeches) emphasized several themes. Among them were workforce development and increasing capacity and demand for high-need degrees, improving access for poorer students through scholarship programs and tuition increase limits, and streamlining secondary and post-secondary education to encourage students to graduate high school with college credits in hand and continue their education after graduation.

Funding higher education also was a focus in several speeches as leaner state budgets loom in many states, but few governors were as frank as Haley Barbour of Mississippi in acknowledging the funding difficulties likely in the upcoming fiscal year. In contrast, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle used his state-of-the-state speech to tell of the significant private sector financial support for his nascent Wisconsin Covenant program.

Many governors also took the opportunity to outline their organizational plans for higher education derived from the results of task forces and commissions. Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio lauded the results of his elevating the chancellor of higher education to a cabinet-level position and outlined the forthcoming ten-year plan for higher education in the state. Gov. Bill Ritter of Colorado highlighted the early progress of his P-20 council in proposing ideas to double degree production.

Below are excerpts of selected state-of-the-state speeches addressing major higher education initiatives in 2008.

Alabama
Finally - thanks to Chancellor Bradley Byrne and our State Board of Education - we are ending the corruption. But we must make sure those abuses never - never - happen again. So let's ban double dipping in our two-year system, our four-year system, in K through 12 and in every state agency.

  - Gov. Bob Riley on the ethics scandal in the two-year college system

Arizona
The eighth graders of today are the high school class of 2012 - Arizona's centennial class. I say, let's make a contract with these Centennial Scholars, and with all the classes that follow. Let's agree that any eighth grader who pledges to stay out of trouble and maintains at least a "B" average in high school will be guaranteed free tuition at any of our community colleges or state universities. Let's act now for the class of 2012, and for every class thereafter, because the promise of these Centennial Scholars is the promise of Arizona's next 100 years.

Rewarding students who are excelling is a good step, but we must recognize that higher education is something that all Arizona children will need to succeed. It's a pathway to prosperity and, in Arizona, it's also supposed to be affordable. I propose that, beginning next year, all Arizona universities guarantee that when a student begins college, his or her tuition will not be raised for four years - period. Times change and tuition will rise, but it shouldn't go up once you've started your coursework. Call it a "fixed-rate" loan on the best investment we can make in Arizona's future - our children.

...I call on our higher education institutions to work together and double the number of bachelor's degrees they produce by the year 2020. To do this, our universities have to increase graduation rates, retain more students, create more options for students in rural areas, enroll more first-generation students, and boost the number of students coming from community colleges. This Legislature needs to support them now in these critical tasks.

  - Gov. Janet Napolitano

Colorado
From 2001 to 2006, no other state cut funding to higher education more than Colorado. We rank 48th in the nation in higher-ed funding per-student, and dead last in total funding per student.

The good news is we're making progress. In the budget request I submitted to you in November, I proposed a $59.5 million, 8 percent increase to higher-ed funding. And that follows a $52 million, 7.5 percent increase the year before. As a result, we're closing the funding gap that separates our colleges from our national peers.

The Department of Higher Education is working closely with college presidents on a long-term funding strategy. This is no easy task, getting all of the college and university presidents onto the same page. As someone who graduated from a public university in Colorado 30 years ago, as someone who worked his way through college and law school, as someone whose education has opened door after door, this is a priority for me.

...Last year, I set a 10-year goal of cutting the dropout rate and achievement gap in half, and doubling the number of college degrees and certificates. This year, we have specific proposals to help achieve those goals, thanks in large part to the P-20 Education Council co-chaired by Lt. Gov. O'Brien, business leader Bruce Benson and CSU-Pueblo President Joe Garcia.

...After just a few months of work, the P-20 Council shows us very clearly that Colorado does not lack talent. Rather, we lack an overarching educational vision, a vision that aligns standards from pre-school to college and puts an emphasis on proficiency and learning.

  - Gov. Bill Ritter

Delaware
[T]hrough the persistence, hard work, and leadership of Senator McDowell and Representative Wagner, we worked together to implement the SEED scholarship program, offering free college tuition to any student who works hard, stays out of trouble, and gets good grades. Today, more than 1,300 Delaware high school graduates are successfully attending college and on the path to a degree, a good job, and a better life.

...I am extremely proud of our accomplishments in the field of education. Let's continue building on that record by passing the Student Academic Reward scholarship program, or STAR, this year. The STAR scholarship would enable high-achieving SEED graduates to continue on to a four-year, tuition-free bachelor's degree. This is a tremendous opportunity for our students and would result in a better educated workforce for our business community.

  - Gov. Ruth Ann Minner

Hawaii
We propose the creation of a Commission on Higher Education made up of the presidents of Hawai'i's major universities, members of the community, and business leaders. This Commission will give us the opportunity to embrace new ideas and new ways of using federal and state education dollars.

  - Gov. Linda Lingle

Louisiana
To effectively establish "centers of excellence" at our community and technical campuses to focus on key industries in each economic region, we need to match the needs of employers to the skills of our workers.

For this to work, we must immediately begin to invest $10 million annually to fund these high-demand, high-cost training programs, which will meet market demands and employment projections.

We must also guarantee to Louisiana employers that if you hire someone with a degree or certificate from one of our technical colleges, they will be ready to work for you on Day One.

A "Day One Guarantee" tells employers that if they hire someone who does not have the skills they need to get to work right away, we will retrain them for free.

Additionally, we need to change our higher education funding formula to reward high-demand, high-cost programs. It makes no sense for technical colleges to make money training nail technicians, while losing money training the nurses and welders that are so desperately needed by their communities.

  -Gov. Bobby Jindal

Maryland
We can once again hold the line against the rising cost of college tuition: hard-working families in Maryland should be able to afford to send their children to Maryland colleges.

  - Gov. Martin O'Malley, proposing a tuition freeze for the third straight year

Michigan
Thanks to the work of the Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth led by our Lt. Governor John Cherry, and bipartisan action by the Legislature, we are moving ever closer to our goal. We now have a record number of high school students in Michigan taking a college entrance exam, and a record number are eligible for our $4,000 Michigan Promise scholarship.

This year, our state universities are reporting record enrollment.

And now we are stepping it up. We're going to follow Kalamazoo's lead. In that city, anonymous donors promised full college tuition for every high school graduate, and already Kalamazoo has more students staying in high school and more going to college. And there's greater parent participation in the K-12 schools and new investment in the community.

Senator Van Woerkom and Representative Melton have sponsored bipartisan legislation that will soon expand the vision of the Kalamazoo Promise to communities across our state. Senator, Representative - thank you - I look forward to signing your bills.

As much as we want our students to succeed in our K-12 schools, we also want them to succeed in college. Unfortunately, far too many of our students enter college but don't graduate. The higher education budget I propose will take aim at that problem by rewarding colleges and universities when their students complete degrees. We'll also reward them when they create opportunity for low-income students, and when they find ways to turn research ideas into businesses. We will invest more in higher education and we will expect more in return.

   -Gov. Jennifer Granholm

Mississippi
Higher education also received record increases in state funding these last four years. Universities saw state funding go up by nearly one-third, and it was greatly needed after a seven percent cut in funding during the Musgrove administration.

Community colleges got cut even more when Musgrove was governor, and I'm proud that in my first administration state appropriations for community colleges went up fifty-two percent, including a more than doubling of state spending on workforce development and job training... a key to our job creation success.

I'm on record as favoring continued, large increases in funding higher education... increases similar to my first term; but I'll tell you right now, we can't afford that this year. The money won't be there.

   - Gov. Haley Barbour

Missouri
Missouri colleges and universities were also neglected by the failed priorities of the old budgets. We needed to invest in better classrooms and labs, and we are doing so. Last year, for the first time ever, in order to protect Missouri families from future unreasonable tuition hikes, we capped tuition increases, and we launched the Lewis & Clark Discovery Initiative. Thus far, we have invested $289 million for dozens of world-class learning centers to better compete with rival states.

...My budget includes more than $25 million for A+ student scholarships, helping more than 20,000 Missourians attend community colleges, nearly double the program's funding since January of 2005. And it includes even more significant increases in needs-based scholarships.

...Tonight, I recommend $100 million for Access Missouri scholarships - quadrupling our investment in needs-based scholarships during my administration. This four-fold increase in scholarship funding will expand opportunity for thousands of Missourians studying to make their lives better and Missouri more prosperous.

   - Gov. Matt Blunt

New Hampshire
To keep New Hampshire a national leader, we must give all of our children the very best education possible, including helping more of our young people go on to higher education.

And that's what we're doing. We doubled a University System scholarship program to give the neediest New Hampshire students two years free tuition. And to help families save on tuition costs, we expanded Project Running Start, which allows high school students to earn college credits right at their own schools.

   - Gov. John Lynch

New Mexico
I'm asking for $152 million to build state of the art facilities for our university and college campuses.

   - Gov. Bill Richardson

New York
Last year, I convened a Commission on Higher Education to recommend what we need to do to make America's largest public system of higher education one of its very best. Last month, they spoke. Today, you and I need to begin acting on their recommendations.

Over the next five years, we must hire 2,000 new full-time faculty members for SUNY and CUNY, including 250 eminent scholars - the type of professors whose research draws grants and collaboration from around the globe, and whose stature lifts entire campuses.

We must create an Innovation Fund for cutting-edge research at New York's public and private colleges, similar to the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. Supercharging cutting-edge academic research will also supercharge our innovation economy.

We must invest in our community colleges, which train New Yorkers for high-skilled jobs and serve as the gateway to four-year colleges. For the community college students who want to continue their education by transferring to four-year SUNY and CUNY schools, we will make the process simple and seamless, and give them full credit for the academic courses they have successfully completed.

Made wisely, these investments in higher education will also revitalize cities. We will move forward on the University of Buffalo's "2020" expansion as a centerpiece of our strategy to reinvigorate the economy of Western New York. When completed, the University's total student population will grow from 29,000 to almost 41,000. Over 7,000 students, faculty and staff will work and study on a new downtown campus for medicine and health sciences. UB will become an economic engine for Buffalo, and a flagship institution for a world class public university system.

We will create a flagship at the other end our state, as well. We will help bring together the University at Stony Brook, and the world renowned Brookhaven and Cold Spring Harbor laboratories. The result will be a peerless cross-disciplinary research engine in the areas of cancer, neurobiology, plant genetics and bioinformatics. The economic benefit for Long Island will be tremendous. The chance for New York to lead the world will be unparalleled.

But none of this is possible unless we figure out a way to pay for it. And to do that, we need a new funding source. The finest private and public colleges and universities in America use the funds from permanent endowments to achieve excellence. If we are to join their ranks, we must do so as well. Higher education funding should no longer be a budgetary pawn or a yearly battle. It must be a permanent priority.

Given the investments we must make and the sheer size of our higher education system, this endowment initially should be at least $4 billion, which would generate $200 million in operating funds each year.

Where's the money going to come from? We should unlock some of the value of the New York State Lottery, either by taking in private investment or looking at other financing alternatives. As we do this, we will assure that the State continues to regulate all lottery games, and that we continue to receive the more than $2 billion annually for K to 12 education that the lottery now provides. Today's endowment dollars will be a down payment on tomorrow's dreams.

   - Gov. Eliot Spitzer

Ohio
Ohio used to have one of the most highly educated workforces in the country, but that is no longer true. It is clear that we must increase the number of college graduates in Ohio if our citizens are going to have good jobs and rising incomes in the coming years.

Our Chancellor of Higher Education is required to construct a ten-year plan for Ohio's colleges and universities. While that work continues, I want to share with you some of the most important commitments we will make in this plan. These commitments will reshape the future of our schools and our state.

Last year we created the University System of Ohio. Our public colleges and universities will maintain their unique character and strengths. But as members of the University System, all of our schools will be united by a common mission to serve the state and its people.

...[T]o expand the number of college graduates in Ohio, we must also build a system that is flexible enough to serve the potential students we are missing. Many Ohioans who are interested in furthering their education are not able to spend the traditional four years on one of Ohio's main university campuses. Many are working full-time or caring for a family, or both.

Forty years ago, Governor Rhodes saw the changing industrial economy and understood that Ohioans could no longer go from high school to the factory floor. And so he launched a grand project to build a community college, technical college or regional campus within thirty miles of every Ohioan.

Thanks to Jim Rhodes' foresight, we have a higher education infrastructure that rivals any state in the nation. Today, our challenge is to better use that infrastructure. We must provide Ohioans what they need to succeed in the 21st century - access to high-quality, affordable associate and bachelor's degrees.

Today I'm announcing that the ten-year plan for the University System of Ohio will guarantee that a high quality associate and bachelor's degree in the academic fields necessary to land a good job will be available on a campus within thirty miles of every Ohioan.

...Another thing we must do to increase the number of college graduates in Ohio is to stop thinking about high school as an end in itself. Whether through college or technical training, our young people must be brought up with the expectation that they need to continue their education beyond high school.

Building on the existing Post Secondary Enrollment Options plan, today I am announcing that I have directed the Chancellor to give every twelfth grader who meets the academic requirements a choice of spending their senior year in their home high school, or spending it on a University System of Ohio campus.

Tuition for the year will be free.

We will begin enrolling students in this plan for the upcoming school year. Participating seniors will then graduate from high school ready to start their sophomore year in college. In fact, students will receive their high school diploma and one full year of college credits at the same time. The credits will transfer in full to public institutions, as well as many private colleges.

   -Gov. Ted Strickland

Oklahoma
In the arena of higher education, we must build on the momentum of recent years. Our successes have been astounding. Oklahoma's college graduates have increased by nearly 25 percent since 2000. And 90 percent of our college graduates are staying in Oklahoma to work and raise a family.

Let's continue that momentum. It is crucial that we fully fund endowed chairs and reduce their backlog in our colleges and universities. By doing so, we will reaffirm our commitment to top-quality instruction and research in our institutions of higher learning.

   -Gov. Brad Henry

South Carolina
[L]et's link the price of higher education to its cost. By capping its increase we would force coordination - key to preventing higher education from continuing to spiral out of the reach of working families.

   - Gov. Mark Sanford

South Dakota
I am partnering with the Board of Regents to renovate and to revitalize the science facilities at our public universities, because it is truly important for the future of South Dakota's students and our economic development plans. The private sector already recognizes this important move. Avera recently announced a multi-million dollar donation to South Dakota State University to rebuild and expand Shepard Hall. Therefore, the Board of Regents and I have agreed to a $65 million bonding plan.

   - Gov. Michael Rounds

Tennessee
The budget that I am proposing also contains two changes to the lottery scholarship program. I believe in the merit concept behind the Hope scholarships, and want to retain it. But when nearly 80% of the scholarship winners lose their scholarship during their time in college, something is wrong.

It's time to fix this, and I have proposed in this budget that we change the grade point average for retention of the scholarship from 3.0 to 2.75.

This has a simple and I think compelling rationale; the average grade point average in college of scholarship winners is about three tenths of a point less than it was in high school.

   -Gov. Phil Bredesen

Vermont
To ensure that prosperity grows with each generation we must make a continued investment in our human capital. To empower the next generation of workers I propose we invest $8 million--a 14 percent increase over last year's appropriation--in college scholarships and workforce training programs.

   - Gov. Jim Douglas

Virginia
We must encourage our high school graduates to continue their education at universities, four year colleges, career and technical schools, and community colleges. And we need to give those institutions what they need to serve students who will ultimately become the workforce driving Virginia's economic engine.

...That's why I have proposed a $1.6 billion bond package to continue the acceleration of our top notch higher education system. This investment, to be phased in over the next 5 to 7 years, will provide facilities across the Commonwealth for researchers to develop new, cutting-edge technologies and turn them into commercial assets.

The bond package centers largely on engineering, science, business, and health professions. It will support our higher education system's continuing efforts to build a more talented workforce that is fully prepared to compete in a global economy.

  - Gov. Tim Kaine

West Virginia
The strategies for investment that I'm about to discuss all started when I visited the University of Kentucky last year and learned about that state's "Bucks for Brains" program that provided money to its two major research universities that was matched with private donations to create new opportunities for state-of-the-art research and entrepreneurship.

From that seed, an entire tree is now about to be planted in West Virginia, with an initiative I like to call "Bucks for Jobs."

West Virginia must be a player in the 21st century world economy, and to do so we need to develop more intellectual and financial capital. "Bucks for Jobs" achieves both these goals by leveraging smart, interconnected investments in economic development, higher education and work force training. First, as part of our own "Bucks for Brains" initiative, and using one-time surplus monies, we will create a $50 million endowment fund for our two research universities, WVU and Marshall, to stimulate world-class research and development and attract venture capital, which will eventually lead to jobs in emerging high-tech, high-wage industries. The state's investment will be matched, dollar for dollar, by private donations, resulting in sizable funds that will strengthen our most-promising research departments - ultimately leading to business spinoffs, new patents and job creation. At the University of Kentucky, for example, their state investments have so far resulted in 44 new start-up companies with over 870 employees - with the University of Louisville adding another 18 start-up companies.

...In addition, we must do a better job of keeping our best and brightest here in the Mountain State. The Promise Scholarship has been a great program that I want to see continue, but I think in order to make sure that the people of West Virginia are getting a return on the substantial investment they're making in these students' futures, we need to ensure that our native sons and daughters look seriously at their career options here before assuming that the pastures might be greener on the other side of the state line. Therefore, I am proposing that the Promise Board develop a rule requiring recipients to work in West Virginia following graduation as a condition of not having to pay back the Promise Scholarship.

  - Gov. Joe Manchin

Wisconsin
Last spring Allen [Betry], a teacher at Horace Mann Middle School in Wausau, stood before his 8th grade class and told them about the Wisconsin Covenant. If they are willing to work hard, play by the rules, and make the grade, there will be an opportunity in higher education for them.

Kristina Clair from East High School in Madison last year joined with more than 17,000 other 8th graders from all 72 counties to sign the Wisconsin Covenant pledge. 17,000 kids said they wanted to go to college--and they're going to work hard to get there.

No other state in the country has done more to make higher education affordable. The last four months have been astounding.

First we committed nearly $190 million to financial aid and approved the University of Wisconsin Growth Agenda - a plan to create more college graduates and train the next generation of teachers, nurses, and engineers.

Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation quickly followed, dedicating $40 million and establishing the Wisconsin Covenant Foundation to recruit support from businesses across the state. And just last month John and Tashia Morgridge announced an incredible gift of $175 million to establish the Fund for Wisconsin Scholars, helping public school students go to our public colleges and universities.

I don't want any young person in this state to think that college is not for them... that it's only for rich people. I want every student to know that if they do their part there will be an opportunity in higher education for them.

  - Gov. Jim Doyle

Wyoming
I also commend to you the Education Committee's House Bill 17 regarding the Community College Commission's powers. The Commission has taken the position that it needs additional legislation to give it the ability to audit, develop uniform method of tracking dollars and students. I hope that you will give them that authority. It is not unlike what we currently do with regard to the schools.

I believe that the Governor's Commission on Community Colleges undertook a significant effort the benefits of which we will see going forward for many years. They opened the conversation about what is the role of community colleges going forward.

 - Gov. Dave Freudenthal