For Immediate Release:
Contact: Keith Dailey
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Keith.Dailey@governor.ohio.gov
Text
of Governor Strickland’s State of the State Address
Governor Ted
Strickland
State
of the State Address
Columbus,
Ohio
March 14,
2007
Living within our means. Investing in
what matters.
Speaker Husted, President Harris,
Leader Beatty and Leader Fedor, Lt. Governor Fisher and statewide elected
officials, members of the General Assembly and the Supreme Court,
distinguished guests, First Lady Frances Strickland, and my fellow
Ohioans...
Let us begin these proceedings with
a moment of silent reflection to honor the thousands of brave Ohioans who
have served and are serving in the military, especially those who are in
Afghanistan and Iraq, and those who have suffered injuries in these
conflicts.
Thank you.
I am pleased to stand before you as
the governor of the great state of Ohio.
We may have come here today from
flatlands or foothills, from the banks of great rivers or the shore of a
Great Lake, from a quiet village or a bustling city. But even in its
glorious differences, Ohio is one state, and we are one people.
We love Ohio for all that it’s
been. For all that it is. And for all that it can be if we work together
for the common good.
So I ask you to join me in
embracing the challenges before us.
Join me in declaring an ambitious
vision for our state.
Join me in staking a claim on
Ohio’s future.
Let me tell you that the state of
our state is resilient. The
state of our state is full of promise. And, my friends, the people of our
state are ready to reject the
status quo. They are ready to
embrace transformational changes that will bring even better days
ahead.
Ohio is the heart of our nation –
with unique strengths in distribution and logistics and agriculture. Ohio is the heart of innovation –
with world class universities, research hospitals, and a revolutionary
commitment to new technology.
There should be no doubt. Ohio can thrive and Ohioans can
thrive. Our people and our
companies made the products of yesterday, and are making the products and
providing the services of tomorrow.
But we must be open to new ways of
doing things and new ways of thinking. The strategies and ideologies of
the 20th Century will not make us strong in the 21st
Century. As a writer once
observed, “The things that got us here will not get us
there.”
The priority of my
administration is to keep and create jobs that grow from Ohio’s strengths
and that are worthy of Ohio’s workers.
Ohio can take the lead in the
national and international economies.
And here’s just one
example. Ohio has everything it takes to become a center of advanced
energy technology. We have
energy resources, technical know-how, manufacturing experience, and
logistical advantages.
Next-generation energies –
biofuels, fuel cells, clean coal, and renewable sources such as wind –
offer us the opportunity to create jobs, support our farmers, reduce our
dependence on foreign oil producers, and be responsible stewards of our
environment.
That's why my administration will
coordinate an almost 1 billion dollar investment in energy programs, to
ensure energy will be an economic development leader in
Ohio.
Over the next four years we will
target 250 million dollars per year in tax exempt bond cap allocation
to leverage billions of additional investment
dollars in energy projects.
We will broaden our Third Frontier investment. We will develop energy projects
across technologies and across the state, and in doing so attract new
investments and new jobs for Ohio.
Ohio will embrace new industries,
new technologies, and a new economy. But our greatest strength will always
be our people.
That’s
why I am seeking to expand and improve our job training programs. This can be done without any new
dollars from our budget – by simply using funds available from the federal
government that have gone ignored.
The
Federal Government’s Workforce Investment Act helps states provide job
training. We’re 51st in making use
of those funds.
Those
resources can be put to use to provide demand-driven job training.
Training targeted toward the jobs of the future, and available to meet the
needs and fit the schedules of busy Ohioans.
Now we
all believe in the importance of a good work ethic. It’s a crucial quality our young
people need to succeed in life. But, let’s be candid, it’s difficult to
develop a good work ethic without work.
Consequently, I’m proposing that the Department of
Job and Family Services develop a grant program to encourage job training
and job creation for young people in low income
communities.
Participating employers will receive funds to support
the training and wages of a young employee.
In the
process, we can reach thousands of young men and women. Helping them get
their foot in the door today and opening new doors for them in the
future.
Transforming Ohio’s economy will
require a partnership.
That’s why I have launched a new
initiative called Advantage Ohio, a top to bottom review of state
regulations to eliminate contradictory and obsolete rules. In the process,
we will make it easier for companies to do business in Ohio while
protecting the health and safety of our people.
As we embrace new ideas, we must
acknowledge that our budget situation makes the challenges we face all the
more daunting.
There is belt tightening ahead and
it’s not a pleasant thing to do…Especially when we’re already dealing with
shortfalls.
And so we face a choice.
We can take the easy route. We can continue divvying up our
shrinking resources and spreading them around so that everybody is mildly
satisfied while nothing is actually accomplished.
Or, we can make very tough choices.
We can seek cuts, and savings where possible, enabling us to make
meaningful investments which will lead to a transformed Ohio.
My budget reflects tough
choices.
It’s a budget that does two things
above all else. We live
within our means. And we
invest in what matters.
For the biennium, under my budget,
of the 18 cabinet departments that rely on general revenue funds:
2 departments will absorb a
cut.
9 departments will make do with
funding that does not keep up with inflation.
While the remaining 7 departments
will receive reasonable budget increases.
In the first year of my budget,
general revenue spending will actually shrink, and over the two year span
of the budget total spending will increase a modest 2.2 percent
annually.
That’s
lower than the growth rate in House Bill 66. In fact, it’s lower than any budget in the last 42
years.
So
as we ask for sacrifice, we must demonstrate
responsibility. Wastefulness and giveaways can no longer be
tolerated.
That’s why my budget eliminates the Ed Choice voucher
program.
It limits the Student Choice Grant for students
attending private colleges to those with a financial
need.
It eliminates financial aid for
students in proprietary
for-profit schools not in the Board of Regents
system.
It limits the discount on the state sales tax
provided to large retailers.
It ensures that the Commercial Activity Tax applies
broadly and equally across all sectors of the economy including the
petroleum industry.
It captures for Ohio the full sales tax revenue
generated from residents of other states who come here to buy motor
vehicles.
It prevents shipments of untaxed cigarettes into our
state – a dubious practice that hurts small business people, especially in
border communities.
And there are many more examples in this budget where
we will make cuts and find savings.
Collectively, these decisions allow us to invest in what
matters.
Now, for those tempted to cave in to the special
interests, who will come asking you to restore this item and that
loophole, my message to you is this:
It’s time for shared sacrifice.
It’s time to come together in common purpose,
and work for the common good.
And state government should set an
example. To make the best use
of the funds available, my administration is initiating the Ohio Government Accountability
Plan.
The essence of the
plan is to clearly state priorities, establish performance agreements with
agency directors showing how they will pursue those priorities, and, then,
measure the outcome to find out what worked and what
didn’t.
We will create a
vision for economic competitiveness and apply it across all state
programs. Every department, not just the Department of Development, will
be evaluated in part by its ability to keep, attract, and create jobs
worthy of Ohio’s workers.
Let there be no confusion, even in
the face of budget cuts, we in Ohio are not sounding the retreat. Far from
it. What we do now will strengthen our state and strengthen our
future.
But, it will not be easy.
“Opportunity,” as Thomas Edison
once said, “is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work.”
And that’s exactly what’s ahead of
us. Work.
Work to improve our schools.
Work to increase access to health
care.
Work to prepare Ohioans for the
jobs of the future.
And the opportunity to make
Ohio stronger and healthier, now and for generations to come.
We were sent here to listen to the
people and to each other. We were sent here to work together. We were sent
here to leave this state in better shape than we found it.
That is our responsibility. That is our
opportunity. That is our work.
Because the problems of the
uninsured are our problems.
The future of a school child is
our future.
And, let me add, the failure to fix
what is broken, the failure to strengthen what is working, the failure to
imagine what is possible, that, would be our failure.
I think, for the most part, we
agree on the destination. We
may differ about which route to take, but we must move forward. We can no
longer sit stalled by the side of the road.
We must squarely face the most
pressing problems in our state.
There are 156,000
children in Ohio without health insurance. And that’s 156,000 too
many.
Many of the parents of those
children live with fear each day. Fear of a broken bone or a bout with
bronchitis that will not only bring pain to their child, but will bring
bills that destroy their family’s budget.
Let me be plain: this is wrong. And
we can make it right.
My budget will make access to
affordable health coverage available for every
single child in Ohio, and every young person
up to the age of 21.
Under my proposed budget, we will
offer State Children’s Health Insurance Program coverage to Ohio children
whose parents make up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line. In a family of four, for example,
that’s coverage for every child in every household whose family makes less
than $62,000.
And for those who exceed that
income limit but still lack insurance, we will provide those families an
opportunity to buy into Medicaid coverage for their
children.
We will also expand Medicaid
eligibility for low income working parents up to 100 percent of poverty
and coverage of pregnant women up to 200 percent of
poverty.
And for Ohioans with severe
disabilities who want to work but who are afraid of losing their Medicaid
coverage if they become employed, we will allow those individuals to work
and to maintain coverage by buying into Medicaid.
And we are working with the
insurance industry to expand available options for individuals who can’t
afford coverage. I am seeking
permission from the federal government to use Medicaid funds for private health insurance premium
assistance. This would help as many as 300,000 Ohioans – those earning
up to 150 percent of the poverty level – pay for coverage that is
otherwise beyond their means.
And here’s a common sense
investment we’re going to make.
We will expand the PASSPORT program
to provide essential in-home services to more vulnerable older Ohioans who
need a little help with their medical needs or daily needs, but who do not
require the constant care of a nursing home.
It’s a popular program with seniors
because it offers them dignity and choices. And because it works.
I inherited a waiting list for
PASSPORT services when I took office. In response I issued a directive
last week to open the PASSPORT program to everyone on that waiting list.
And in my budget, I propose welcoming 5,600 additional participants to the
program.
This is simply good policy – it
meets a vital need for our seniors and for their families. And it saves
taxpayers in the long run, because PASSPORT clients spend more time in
their own homes and less time in nursing homes.
We must be committed to operating
this program efficiently. I
am troubled that Ohio has lost federal reimbursement dollars for PASSPORT
by sitting on paperwork. That
practice is over. Instead of
months to file the paperwork, we’ll have it out in weeks, and we’ll
receive more federal support in the process.
Let’s talk about one of the best
investments we can make – early childhood education.
If your interest is the economy, if
your interest is our social health, if your interest is our physical
health, if your interest is education – at any level, for any age – then
you must care about early childhood education.
Those early years affect
everything. Research shows a
better start for our children ultimately means that there will be less
crime and more college, less teen pregnancy and more home ownership, less
welfare and more health.
A modest investment during a brief
period of childhood leads to a lifetime of positive outcomes.
But while every child deserves a
fair start on their way to school, too many of our children begin the race
not only well behind the starting line, but facing in the wrong direction.
We cannot afford to abandon those children who face a poverty of resources
and a poverty of experiences.
We must recognize the facts: we have a readiness gap that leads to
an achievement gap that results in an outcome gap.
So let’s fix it by increasing
access to early childhood education.
Today we have a hodgepodge of
confusing rules which makes it difficult for parents to take advantage of
existing programs. For
example, a child may be eligible for our Early Learning Initiative, but
ineligible for subsidized child care.
We need one easily understood
standard. In my budget, if a child’s family is under 200 percent of the
poverty level, that child will be eligible for any early care and learning
program we have.
We also need to expand our public
pre-school offerings. My
budget provides a $10 million expansion of public pre-school, expanding
the number of 3 and 4 year olds taught by 66 percent.
This is the first expansion of the program
since 1989.
As we expand access, we must
increase the quality of a child’s educational experience as well.
My budget increases child care
provider rates which will help attract and retain experienced and
well-trained staff. And we
will make funds available for professional development and training, the
hiring of specialists in early childhood development, and interventions to
promote school readiness.
And we will expand efforts to
provide information and support to Moms and Dads.
Our Help Me Grow program
serves families with children from newborn to 3 years old. As early as just a few weeks into
their lives we offer an in-home visit from a nurse to help new parents in
the crucial first days of a newborn’s life. The program provides vital
information and resources on health, safety, and development. In my budget, we will expand the
program to reach thousands of additional children.
Even as we include our youngest
children in our early childhood education system, we must work harder to
see that our young adults
don’t find the door to higher education slammed in their faces by
out of control tuition costs.
Today, the state spends less on instructional support for
our universities than it did in 2000.
This defies common sense.
We know an educated workforce
attracts jobs – economic forecasts show that more than 60 percent of new
jobs will require a college degree.
And yet, Ohio is 47 percent above the national average in public
university tuition costs and 37th in producing college graduates.
My goal is clear and my budget sets
the stage. In 10 years, we
will increase the number of Ohioans with a college degree by 230 thousand,
and we will increase the graduation rate among those who start college by
20 percent.
My
budget sets two major initiatives to help make college affordable for
every Ohioan.
First,
I will establish a higher education compact between the state and our
public colleges and universities which will result in lower tuition costs
for our students. This
compact will increase funding for the basic instructional subsidy by 5
percent next year. And by 2 percent more the following
year.
To get
their share of this historic funding increase, each public college and
university must find ways to operate more
efficiently.
And
they must announce that there will be no tuition increase next year, and
that tuition will increase no more than 3 percent the following
year.
Think
about that.
Instead of a tuition increase of 9
percent – and that’s what we’ve averaged in Ohio since 1996 – there would
be absolutely no tuition
increase next year.
This
plan will benefit over 400 thousand students currently enrolled in our
public colleges and universities, and will send a strong message to those
planning for college.
Even
with the compact in place, there will still be a gap between the cost of a
college education and what many Ohio students and families can afford.
My
second major initiative aims to fill that gap.
To do
this, we will continue the full implementation of the Ohio College
Opportunity Grant for all the public and private colleges in the Board of
Regents system. This will
provide assistance to families with incomes up to 75 thousand dollars per
year – helping more than 100 thousand students pay for their
education.
Next,
we will partner with the business community and the Ohio College Access
Network to attack the remaining gap between a student’s resources and the
cost of college through private fundraising.
Our higher education system will be
stronger – indeed it will actually become a system, unified in
purpose – with the creation of a cabinet level Chancellor of Higher
Education.
I appreciate the efforts of
legislators to help redefine this position. And I appreciate the decision
of the Board of Regents to appoint Eric Fingerhut – who I think will be an
outstanding Chancellor today and will only become more effective in the
future.
If we do this right, education will
feed the economy. Success
will bring more success. And
the beneficiaries of our efforts will not only be students in the
classroom, but all Ohioans.
And as we seek improvements in
higher education, and early childhood education, we will not abandon our
constitutional responsibility for primary and secondary education.
To be sure, the legislature,
previous administrations, local school boards, educators and our students
have achieved significant progress in our schools.
SAT scores and ACT scores top the
national averages. Proficiency tests reveal that our students exceed the
national average in reading, in math, and in science. Our high school graduation rate is
up 8 percent over the last 8 years.
President Harris, Speaker Husted,
Leader Fedor, and Leader Beatty, you and your colleagues are to be thanked
for the role you’ve played in improving Ohio’s schools. But there’s much work left to be
done.
Too many Moms and Dads, and too
many of our teachers can still say, without fear of contradiction, that
their districts lack the resources necessary to provide their students
with the quality education they deserve as citizens of Ohio.
We can do better.
And under my budget plan we
will.
My proposals do not solve all the
problems of our schools, but they represent a major advance toward
providing adequate and equitable funding for our primary and secondary
schools.
To begin, we must create a better
system for knowing what we’re getting for our money. My budget addresses that need with
a pilot project in which participating school districts will adopt a
standard fiscal reporting system.
In the second year, the Board of Education will be required to
implement this transparent accounting system in every district in the
state. This will finally let
us see exactly where our money goes and what it
accomplishes.
And just as we must closely and
realistically track local spending, we must accurately acknowledge the
full contribution the state makes to local schools. Currently we don’t include the
full range of tax relief – which is real cash for local schools – when we
calculate the state’s share of education spending. My budget will change that as
well.
A true accounting of education
spending reveals that less than half of local school funding currently
comes from state resources.
Under my plan, our
investment in schools will bring the state’s support for local school
districts to nearly 54
percent in 2009. This likely
reflects the largest percentage contribution of state resources to local
school districts in the modern history of Ohio.
How do we do
this?
First, we increase the amount of
foundation funding per student by 3 percent in each of the next two years.
Second, we focus our aid formulas
to put the emphasis on meeting students’ needs. In the process, many districts
will receive additional funds, and no school district, not one, loses any
state funding from what they have today.
Third, over two years, we will
increase parity aid by more than 7 percent. And to ensure that that aid has
the greatest effect, we will target the money to the 60 percent of
districts most in need rather than spread it out among the 80 percent of
districts as is now the practice.
Fourth, we will increase poverty
based assistance by 22 percent over the biennium – adding both flexibility
for schools in how they use the funds and the expectation that they
demonstrate results.
And, finally, my budget will
authorize securitizing Ohio’s tobacco settlement funds for approximately 5
billion dollars.
Armed with those resources, we will
help firm the financial foundation of our school systems for at least a
generation.
With 2.2 billion of that money, we
will meet all current commitments of the school facilities
commission. Within five years, every dollar will be in the hands of local
school districts as they create facilities of the future.
The remaining resources – just over
2.8 billion dollars – will allow us to forego issuing bonds that are
currently scheduled for the next three years.
As a result of not incurring this
debt, avoiding principal and interest payments, 250 million dollars in
general revenue funds will be made available each year for the next 20
years.
We will
dedicate that yearly savings to the largest targeted property tax cut in
the history of Ohio by expanding the Homestead Property Tax
Exemption.
For those over 65, and the
disabled, regardless of income, this will mean no property tax, not one
penny, on the first $25,000 of value in their homes.
That’s a tax cut, a property tax
cut for one in every four Ohio homeowners.
How does this help our
schools?
Well, the state will replace the
tax revenues lost due to the expansion of the Homestead tax cut. In other
words, schools will have local property tax dollars replaced with state
dollars.
Paying for our local schools is a
responsibility that has been largely borne by local property tax payers.
Many have argued, and the DeRolph decision agreed, an education system
primarily dependent on the wealth of the local community is inherently
unfair. Because where you
grow up in Ohio should not determine where you end up in
life.
With this plan we ease the burden
on some of our most vulnerable property taxpayers and we strengthen the financial
base of our schools.
Let me
underscore, by 2009 the state will provide almost 54 percent of the
funding for our local schools.
That would be the highest level of state funding for local schools
in the post-DeRolph era.
With additional funding, with
additional parity aid and poverty based assistance, and with the Homestead
property tax cut, we are making the biggest single advance toward an
equitable education system in our state’s history.
A generation of Ohio students will
benefit. And so too will parents. And taxpayers.
But this is possible only by making
the tough decisions I spoke of earlier.
Even as we stabilize the funding
foundation of our schools, we must reinvent the mission and performance of
our education system.
Today, the goal is not to outshine
Pennsylvania, or Indiana, or Kentucky. We must set high standards to
prepare our young people to compete with the world, to win in the Global
economy.
We must build educational systems
that are fluid enough for creativity and innovations, and agile enough to
adapt to the demands of our changing state and
world.
We will weigh seriously the
recommendations of experts – including a recent report from Achieve that
was commissioned by the state Board of Education and financed by the Gates
Foundation.
Their recommendations include:
Placing more responsibility with,
and expectations on, our school principals in their role as instructional
leaders.
Giving teachers more opportunity to
learn and collaborate with their colleagues on effective teaching
methods.
Using achievement and proficiency
tests as a means of helping students move to higher levels of learning,
and not just as a means of sorting and labeling students and school
districts.
And they pointed out the unfairness
of demanding more and more of our public schools while demanding less of
charter schools supported with public tax dollars.
I believe the standards gap between
our traditional public schools and other schools receiving public money is
so glaring that we must act immediately. My budget imposes a moratorium on
new charter schools and prohibits for-profit management companies from
running charter schools. My
budget eliminates the voucher program except for the means-tested voucher
initiative in Cleveland.
I am also requiring that we closely
monitor all charter schools to determine if they meet educational and
fiscal standards of accountability.
As we take on questions of reform,
as we take on questions of funding, the goal must be absolutely clear. We
will have public schools that serve our children’s needs. All of our children.
I ask you to work with me today,
tomorrow, and every day. So
that together we can build an education system that every Ohioan is proud
of.
As my Lt. Governor, and my great
economic development director, Lee Fisher often says, “our success will
depend on our willingness to make strategic investments in the unbreakable
link between educational achievement and economic prosperity.”
I am well aware, the process does
not end with these proposals, it begins.
President Kennedy often told of the
general who asked a gardener to plant a sapling for him. The gardener objected that the
kind of tree the general chose would grow slowly, and would not reach
maturity for 100 years.
So the general replied, “Well, in
that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon.”
Let me close today by speaking
directly to the mother who knows her child will get sick, as all children
do, and asks if she will be able to afford treatment.
And to a worker who sweats through
a shift all day, then sits through a class at night, and asks if a better
job awaits his efforts.
And to a grandparent who treasures
his home, but worries that his health or his property taxes could push him
out the door, and asks only for a chance to stay put.
Because with the dawn of each day,
there is hope of a new Ohio. Shaped by our people, forged by our ideas,
and fueled by our ambitions.
Join me in a shared commitment to
this standard: that with the
dawn of each day, there comes a better Ohio, a stronger Ohio.
Proverbs tells us: “Hope
deferred maketh the heart sick.” But, my friends, now is the time for hope. A new day is coming. A new Ohio awaits us.
Thank you and God Bless you.