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

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

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 School Chaplain Bills Multiply, Stirring Debate on Faith-Based Counseling
Proponents say school chaplains could help address a mental health crisis. Opponents raise concerns about religious coercion.
6 min read
Image of a bible sitting on top of a school backpack.
Canva
States What's on the K-12 Agenda for States This Year? 4 Takeaways
Reading instruction, private school choice, and teacher pay are among the issues leading governors' K-12 education agendas.
6 min read
Gov. Brad Little provides his vision for the 2024 Idaho Legislative session during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2024, at the Statehouse in Boise.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little outlines his priorities during his State of the State address before lawmakers on Jan. 8, 2024, at the capitol in Boise.
Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP
States Q&A How Districts Can Navigate Tricky Questions Raised by Parents' Rights Laws
Where does a parent's authority stop and a school's authority begin? A constitutional law scholar weighs in.
6 min read
Illustration of dice with arrows and court/law building icons: conceptual idea of laws and authority.
Andrii Yalanskyi/iStock/Getty
States What 2024 Will Bring for K-12 Policy: 5 Issues to Watch
School choice, teacher pay, and AI will likely dominate education policy debates.
7 min read
The U.S. Capitol is seen in Washington, Monday, Feb. 6, 2023. President Joe Biden on Tuesday night will stand before a joint session of Congress for the first time since voters in the midterm elections handed control of the House to Republicans.
The rising role of artificial intelligence in education and other sectors will likely be a hot topic in 2024 at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, as well as in state legislatures across the country.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP