States State of the States

State of the States: N.C., Ohio

February 26, 2013 2 min read
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCory uses his State of the State address in Raleigh to lay out an agenda that includes ways to boost collaboration among various levels of the state's education pipeline.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Here are summaries of recent annual addresses by governors around the country.

NORTH CAROLINA

Gov. Pat McCrory (R) • Feb. 18

Soon after signing a measure that changes teacher-certification requirements and encourages high schools and community colleges to share resources, first-term Gov. McCrory used his first State of the State address to set out a number of additional schools-focused goals.

Mr. McCrory played up his education background—the governor has a teaching degree from Catawba College, in Salisbury, N.C.—in a speech that called for collaboration between what he called the “four silos of education": pre-K, K-12, community colleges, and universities.

00000176-2c5d-d63e-a37e-ef5d16450000

The governor drew attention to some less-than-stellar statistics—14,000 dropouts, 65 percent of community college attendees requiring remediation—and connected education to the state’s employment woes.

“The disconnect that I’ve seen right now between employers unable to find qualified talent, even with the high unemployment rate, and the citizens unable to get jobs, must be solved through education,” he said.

Vocational education, technology, and collaboration between sectors were the governor’s proposed solutions. The governor said he would work to build bridges between the business community and schools, saying that “market-based needs must be an important factor in education funding, curriculum, and results.”

He also called for a reduction in advertising for the state’s lottery in order to allow more funds for technology in schools and said he would reinstate a state-level education cabinet.
–Jaclyn Zubrzycki

Ohio

Gov. John Kasich (R) • Feb. 19

Gov. Kasich alluded to education programs in his address to lawmakers while mainly offering a detailed—and at times impassioned—defense of his controversial proposal to expand Medicaid, an unpopular idea among many fellow conservatives.

00000176-2c5d-d63e-a37e-ef5d16450004

Leaders of some Ohio districts have previously accused the governor of inadequately funding school systems, particularly after the evaporation of federal stimulus funding. But in his budget proposal released separately earlier this month, the first-term Republican called for increasing K-12 funding from $6.9 billion to $7.7 billion, with an adjustment that would channel more aid to impoverished school systems.

The state’s total, two-year proposed general-fund budget is about

$63 billion. Mr. Kasich has also called for the creation of a state-financed, pilot school voucher program for families of impoverished children entering kindergarten. It would expand the following year to 1st grade.
–Sean Cavanagh

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the February 27, 2013 edition of Education Week as State of the States

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Assessment Webinar
Reflections on Evidence-Based Grading Practices: What We Learned for Next Year
Get real insights on evidence-based grading from K-12 leaders.
Content provided by Otus
Classroom Technology K-12 Essentials Forum How AI Use Is Expanding in K-12 Schools
Join this free virtual event to explore how AI technology is—and is not—improving K-12 teaching and learning.
Mathematics Webinar How to Build Students’ Confidence in Math
Learn practical tips to build confident mathematicians in our webinar.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

States Democratic-Led Cities, States Push Back on Trump's Threats to Cut School Funding Over DEI
The standoff could test how far the White House is willing to go to press its demands on the nation’s schools.
4 min read
The exterior of the Department of Education Building in Washington, DC on Thursday, December 14, 2017.
The exterior of the Department of Education Building in Washington on Thursday, Dec. 14, 2017.
Swikar Patel/Education Week
States Opinion How One State Improved Its NAEP Scores
Louisiana's state schools chief discusses the importance of reading and math instruction and "letting teachers teach."
6 min read
The United States Capitol building as a bookcase filled with red, white, and blue policy books in a Washington DC landscape.
Luca D'Urbino for Education Week
States Lawmakers Want to Fix Student Absenteeism With Ice Cream Parties, Data, and More
State lawmakers have introduced dozens of bills aiming to make school attendance a priority.
3 min read
New canvas school bags hanging on the backs of empty classroom student chairs in a large modern classroom
iStock/Getty Images
States Oklahoma Asks Trump for Sweeping Flexibility in How It Spends School Funding
The request is one of several already made or in the works that will test the flexibility of the Trump administration.
5 min read
State Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks to members of the State Board of Education during a meeting, Aug. 24, 2023, in Oklahoma City, Okla.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters speaks to members of the State Board of Education during a meeting, Aug. 24, 2023, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Walters has submitted a request to the U.S. Department of Education seeking to consolidate its federal funds into a block grant, testing the legal bounds of Education Secretary Linda McMahon's waiver authority.
Daniel Shular/Tulsa World via AP