| Legislative
Bulletin |
February
23, 2001 |
 |
Text
of Gov. Mike Easley's State of the State Address
Delivered Monday evening, Feb. 19, to
a joint session of the House and Senate
Mr. Speaker. Sen. Basnight. Lt. Governor Perdue. Members of
the General Assembly. Chief Justice, Members of the Court,
Council of State, Honored Guests, and fellow citizens:
I am proud to stand here before you tonight at the beginning
of a bright new age for North Carolina.
We leave behind a decade that will long be remembered as one
of the most rewarding in our history. Through triumph and
great tragedy, the people of North Carolina rallied together
like never before – for our schools, for our communities,
for our families.
Our citizens poured out their hearts and their souls, and
helped North Carolina blossom into the finest place in all of
America to live and raise a family.
Our eastern counties, completely devastated just a year and a
half ago, are rebuilding with great vision and courage.
Our universities and community colleges are among the best in
the nation.
Our crime rate is lower than it has been in a generation.
And, for the first time in recent memory, the rest of the
country is looking to North Carolina as the standard for
improvement in education and childcare.
I want to personally thank you for putting people first and
putting party differences aside. Good government is not about
Democrats and Republicans. It is about children, seniors and
working families. You put them first.
I began working with you as a prosecutor to toughen criminal
laws back in the 70s and 80s. As Attorney General, we worked
together on almost every issue facing this state.
When I set out to reach a national tobacco settlement, you had
doubts but you stuck with me; when I set out to remove the
prison cap, you had doubts but you stuck with me; and when I
set out to stop predatory lending, you stuck with me again. We
always worked together. I believe tonight that the same
bipartisan spirit we have enjoyed for so long will continue
over the next four years.
But too often, history records progress under the name of the
Governor’s administration. Too often, we fail to recognize
the leadership and vision that exists in the halls of the
General Assembly. Year after year, and session after session,
you make the tough calls and suffer the consequences. I think
it is right that we remember that – and on behalf of the
people of North Carolina, I thank you.
You are the first Legislature of the new century. You have a
chance to be remembered as the group that brought sustained
progress to North Carolina. You have a chance to make history
and be remembered for it.
In the past, our progress and economic prosperity have run in
cycles. We have invested in education in good times, but
failed to complete the job when the economy slows. Our state
has seen this cycle repeated decade after decade. We make
great progress, only to see it erode.
Friends, we’ve come too far this time. We have too much
invested and too much left to do. What took decades to build
will be lost overnight if we fail to make critical investments
in our people.
Any state can make progress in good times. It’s the great
states that make progress in the tough times. It’s the
darkest hours that draw out our brightest stars. And now is
the time for North Carolina to shine.
For again, as we move from one decade to another, we face
another budget shortfall.
Again, we face the challenge. Again, we stand at a crossroads.
We can go forward or we can let this budget turn us back. I
have made my decision. I’m going forward – and I need you
to go with me.
Tonight, I urge you to be restless – be dissatisfied with
the status quo. If we’re going to make progress, we have to
be willing to change. The people of this state want progress,
and it’s our job to see that they get it.
We will have a balanced budget by June 30. That’s my job and
I’m going to do it.
But next year’s budget is one we write together. We will
make the tough calls to make sure the budget is balanced. We
must remove the budget deficit without compromising our
future.
We have a responsibility to look ahead, beyond budget cycles
and legislative terms. We must think in terms of lives…the
lives of all our people and the quality of life they all
enjoy.
Tonight, I urge you to stand with me in a commitment to One
North Carolina where every citizen in every region has a fair
chance to succeed.
North Carolina values require that we all work together to
spread our success, not by taking wealth from any one region,
but by sharing opportunity and expertise with every region.
North Carolina must be one state where opportunity is equal.
No Excuses.
No Excuses means investing in our people.
It means maintaining our commitment to education by making
sure that every child in every county has every opportunity to
succeed, regardless of economic condition.
It means taking care of our seniors, those who took care of us
for so many years.
It means protecting patients’ rights.
It means keeping North Carolina competitive in the global
marketplace.
It means protecting our environment so that our children can
swim in the same waters and harvest the same land that we did.
It means not using the tough economy as a reason to quit.
More than 100,000 five-year-olds will start kindergarten in
August, whether the economy is strong or weak.
More than 1.3 million children will fill our classrooms to
pursue a quality education, whether interest rates are high or
low.
Those with illness and those with disabilities will still need
our help, whether Wall Street is up or down.
We must meet the needs of our people in good times and in bad.
For, it is during those tough times that we test our
leadership, our character and our commitment to the Golden
Rule.
Other states can choose their own course – we in North
Carolina choose to go forward.
Our schools have made great strides, but in many parts of our
state they are simply not the schools our children deserve.
When we talk about being number one in education, let’s stop
and think about the context in which we are speaking. We
basically have 4 parts to education in this state and we are
leading the way in three of them.
The first is early childhood development where we have a
national model in Smart Start. The second is the university
system. We were the first in the country to start a
state-supported university and we remain the envy of the
nation today. The third is our community colleges, considered
one of the most comprehensive systems in the country.
The fourth is K-12. It makes absolutely no sense that we can
be a national leader in the other three categories yet lag
behind in K-12. We can’t be satisfied to be a leader in most
categories of education. We must be a leader in all categories
of education.
We can be number one across the board.
We’re making real progress. We’re beginning to turn the
corner.
And we cannot stop now. We can’t let a budget shortfall
become an education shortfall.
This year, we have to break that cycle, finish the job,
overcome any barrier and let those young minds flourish.
We can’t make excuses.
If we want our students to succeed, they must arrive at the
schoolhouse door ready to learn…and once inside, they need
an encouraging environment that allows them not just to pass
but to excel.
Tonight, I’m proposing a two-part initiative designed to
give children the boost they need during their early learning
years.
First, the creation of a voluntary statewide pre-kindergarten
program to prepare at-risk four-year olds for school. We know
it works.
Each year, our state lets thousands of at-risk four-year olds
go without the help they need. There’s no excuse. Those
children deserve the chance to succeed. Pre-k programs are
already making progress in 40 other states, including Georgia.
Our children deserve the same opportunity.
With a pre-k program we can close the achievement gap that has
been tolerated for far too long. We will not be part of a
system of education that discriminates against even one North
Carolina child. Pre-k and smaller classes will solve that
problem.
Next, we must take steps to ensure that the progress made in
pre-k won’t be lost in grade school.
We must reduce class size to 18 or below in grades K-3.
Students in smaller classes are more likely to stay in school,
stay out of trouble, graduate and go to college. We have great
universities, let’s educate our children so they can use
them.
I’m asking you, the 2001 Legislature, to take this step for
our children and for our state.
More testing alone is not the answer. Students need more
knowledge. They must have a better environment to learn more
if we expect them to score more.
Almost 40 percent of our children are in classes of 26 or
more. That’s just too large.
The best research, from the Rand Institute, the Tennessee Star
program and our own Burke County, shows that smaller classes
translate into higher performance. Smaller classes allow for
more one-on-one instruction so that teachers can teach and
students can learn. Achievement goes up, discipline problems
go down and teachers are more likely to stay in the
profession.
We know it works. It’s working right now in Burke County.
They are following the model that I am recommending tonight.
Those students in small classes outperformed their peers and
continued outperforming them throughout their academic career.
We know smaller classes work, there’s no excuse not do it.
North Carolina is recognized for real accountability and high
standards. But accountability is simply enforcing standards
– rewarding those who meet the standards and sanctioning
those who don’t. We are simply not doing enough to help
students reach higher standards.
We can set all the standards we want and demand all the
accountability we like, but unless we have tools in place to
help students learn more, they’re not going to improve.
Pre-k and lower class size are the tools that work. If you
give good teachers lower class size, they’ll give you higher
test scores – for all students. That much I guarantee.
That’s why we must invest in the Teaching Fellows program.
It’s based on a simple principle: we pay teachers to go to
school and they pay us back by teaching school. It helps us
get and keep high-quality educators.
Now, there’s no free lunch. It takes revenue.
And in this tight fiscal environment, it is going to take some
creative solutions to continue funding real progress in
education.
The truth is, North Carolina is already funding smaller
classes and education improvements. Unfortunately, we’re
funding them in other states...in Virginia, in Georgia, and
soon in South Carolina and Tennessee. We are spending hundreds
of millions of dollars – North Carolina’s dollars – to
build new schools in other states, while we’re packing our
kids in trailers at home. We are the only state that plays the
lottery and gives away the proceeds.
I want to keep North Carolina’s money in North Carolina’s
schools for North Carolina’s children. Those resources
could, and should, stay home.
Now I am not saying a lottery for education is the only
solution, it’s just one solution. If anyone has a better
idea…if anyone has another way to find the $400 - $500
million for education, I am open to it.
But you can’t just say “no” we’re against a lottery
– finish the sentence – tell me what you’re for, because
next year 100,000 five-year olds will show up at the
schoolhouse door and they deserve more than an overcrowded
classroom and an overworked teacher.
They deserve to know what we are for – that we stand for a
system that works for all children – No Achievement Gaps, No
Excuses.
Now, we can do a lot with education that doesn’t take money.
I talked earlier about the four parts of education. There is
another part that’s just as critical – parental
involvement. As parents, we must make it a priority to be a
part of our child’s education.
Let’s put school accountability report cards in every
household to tell parents exactly how many students are in
their child’s class and whether the teacher is certified in
the subjects they are teaching. That will get parents
informed, empowered and involved.
And we all like to believe that children are taught respect,
responsibility and character at home and in church – but the
sad truth is; some are not. And, if they don’t learn it at
the schoolhouse, the next stop is the courthouse.
I’m asking school boards to implement a plan for character
education to educate our students’ hearts as well as their
minds. It is working well in many counties – we can expand
character education to all counties in North Carolina.
And our schools don’t need students showing up in clothes
laced with profanity. I’m asking every school board to
enforce a reasonable dress code policy. I am not talking about
uniforms, we’ll leave the dress code to the local boards.
Students come to school to learn – not to party – and the
dress code should reflect that.
Lastly, we’re going to put more discipline in our classrooms
so that those students who want to learn will have every
opportunity to learn. No parent should ever have to take their
child out of public school because they fear for their
child’s safety and no teacher should ever be asked to
tolerate disrespect.
Tonight, I am directing funds from the Governor’s Crime
Commission to establish more alternative schools across the
state. Right now, there are over 7,000 students suspended or
expelled each year, many of them with no education solution at
all.
When we expel a student, they don’t go away, they just leave
school and take their trouble to the streets. We have to be
smarter in dealing with troubled kids or they just become
problem adults.
The truth is, we have a lot to do to improve our schools.
Our schools can’t be below average by any measure. We
don’t have below average children. They do not have below
average ambitions. And, we are not going to tolerate below
average schools. We owe our students results. We owe the
future of North Carolina results – NOT EXCUSES.
And there’s No Excuse for families being denied basic
patients’ rights – especially when they are paying for
those rights.
Tomorrow, we’re introducing a Patients’ Bill of Rights
that many of you have been working for. It will protect
patients’ rights and it will make our principle very clear
– if an insurer denies access to its consumers and that
denial results in injury then they must face the consequences
just as a doctor, nurse or hospital.
Those insurers who are trying to limit your medical treatment
have to accept the accountability as well as the profit.
And we will have a prescription drug plan for seniors. The
rising cost of medication has caused many to choose between
pain medication and antibiotics. The result is they end up
sick, in the hospital – more cost for us and more suffering
for them.
We have the funds available from a portion of the tobacco
settlement to help our seniors – the greatest generation –
those who fought World War II and the Korean War. They were
there for us when we needed them and we will be there for them
now that they need us.
No Excuses.
Whether children, seniors or working families – we won’t
leave anyone behind in One North Carolina.
Every citizen of every age and every location must be included
in our one state – the young and the old – the rural and
the urban – large cities as well as small towns.
And as the new economy demands more technology, so must we
teach it.
As the new economy requires lifelong learning, we will provide
it.
For technology will not replace those enterprises and
industries that have built this state – it will enhance
them.
We must be willing to make smart and targeted investments to
attract new and better jobs. But we must close revenue
loopholes that defy good business practice and fly in the face
of fundamental fairness. I’ve asked former Treasurer Harlan
Boyles to chair a commission to review tax incentives that
cannot be justified in our current economic condition.
And as we expand our economy to all North Carolina – every
citizen in every region – we must resist the temptation to
trade short-term economic gain for long-term environmental
harm.
We in North Carolina see the environment as more than an
abstract issue. We see the water as something the fisherman
fish, the land as something the farmers till and the air as
something we all must breathe. Our environmental laws must be
strengthened and they must be enforced.
I have proposed Truth in Penalties so that environmental fines
cannot be manipulated. These laws will be clear,
understandable and they will be consistent.
And I urge you to continue the moratorium on open-air lagoons
as we all work together to develop affordable technology to
replace them.
As I close tonight, I ask you to set your sights high.
Remember your heritage and those 8 million people who you 170
are so fortunate to represent.
North Carolina was founded more than 400 years ago by pioneers
who dared to search for a dream. Our state was built by the
sweat and grit and resolve of generations who dared to be the
best. They made No Excuses.
That same spirit and determination has stayed with us all
these years.
It’s the spirit that led us to fly the first plane.
It’s the spirit that helped us build the first, and finest,
state university.
It’s the spirit that drives you and me to work for the
people.
And it’s the same spirit that will help us create One North
Carolina.
Let our accomplishments over the next four years be remembered
not just as products of my administration, but as the legacy
of this Legislature, the people’s Legislature, one that was
willing to be bold and aggressive. The 01 Legislature.
And yes, we’re going to have to make some tough and
controversial decisions this year -- and take some political
risks. I don’t have to be in the Governor’s office, and
you don’t have to be in the General Assembly. But next year,
the five-year olds have to be in kindergarten, and the
six-year olds have to be in the first grade. Those young minds
are perishable commodities – we can’t just put them on a
shelf for two years and hope for better economic days. We have
to act this year.
If we’re going to be representatives of the people, then
let’s represent the people.
If we’re going to lead the state, then let’s lead the
state.
We are not going to get there by being timid and cautious.
We’ll get there by being bold and aggressive.
Friends, I ran for governor because I wanted to make sure that
the working men and women of this state – the people who get
up early, work late, fight the traffic and pay the bills –
have a champion in Raleigh. They do in me, and I believe they
do in you.
I pledge tonight that I’ll fight as hard as I can for you,
and I’ll fight as hard as I can for North Carolina. I ask
you to join me. Thank you, and God Bless North Carolina.
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