Governor Voinovich's Selected Speeches   

1996 State of the State Address (13th February, 1996)
State Capitol Columbus, Ohio

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Speaker Davidson -- President Aronoff -- Lieutenant Governor Hollister -- distinguished members of Ohio's 121st General Assembly -- justices of the Supreme Court -- elected state office holders -- members of the Cabinet -- fellow Ohioans -- and my wife, Janet, one of Ohio's leading advocates for women, children, and families...

At two o'clock this afternoon, Sergeant First Class Donald Dugan of Ridgeway will be laid to rest. Sergeant Dugan was the first U. S. soldier to give his life for the cause of peace in Bosnia.

Regardless of how we may feel about America's commitments overseas, we must make clear to those serving and their families, how much we honor their sacrifice in defending our country and preserving peace in the world. I am asking all Ohioans to pray for Sergeant Dugan and his family and for the safe return of all Americans serving overseas.

It is hard to believe this is my sixth State of the State address and the last that will be delivered away from the State House. When we next mark this occasion in 1997, Senate President Stan Aronoff will not be with us.

Stan, your 36 years of service have truly made a difference in the quality of life of your fellow citizens. I'll never forget your hand of friendship or the guidance and support you have given me since my first day in office.

Last year, another legendary legislator retired, and people wondered if anyone could fill the shoes of Speaker Vern Riffe. The answer is "yes," and that person's name is Jo Ann Davidson.

Stan and Jo Ann, I am pleased that most major legislation in 1995 was approved with overwhelming bipartisan support. I congratulate Republicans and Democrats for working together for Ohio's citizens. I acknowledged that partnership recently, when I accepted Governing magazine's "Public Official of the Year" award on your behalf and on behalf of one of the most committed, energetic, and qualified cabinets in Ohio history.

In my first Inaugural address, I said: "Gone are the days when public officials are measured by how much they spend on a problem. The new realities dictate that public officials are now judged on whether they can work harder and smarter, and do more with less."

Those new realities also dictated that we reevaluate the role that state government should play in the lives of our people.

Abraham Lincoln said it best: "The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all or cannot do for themselves, in their separate and individual capacities." And I always add that in all things people can do for themselves, government ought not to interfere.

Our administration decided that helping to empower families and eliminating the barriers that impede self-sufficiency are our greatest obligations. We understand that, when our families succeed, Ohio succeeds. We also understood that, while many families do not need or want anything from government, a great many others are struggling.

We have tried to avoid the mistakes of the federal government, which, for the last 30 years, has tried unsuccessfully to substitute itself for the family.

We look to personal responsibility and to our extended family of communities, churches, schools, and other organizations that support families, which, I think, do a lot better job than we do.

One of the major reasons we developed Ohio 2000/Ohio First -- our strategic vision for solidifying Ohio's place as a national leader and world-class competitor into the 21st century -- was to create an environment where all members of Ohio's family can be successful.

We have focused on the four areas where I feel state government can really make a difference: Management, education, jobs, and quality of life.

I want to briefly summarize the measurable progress we have made toward transforming our vision into reality, and then touch on several major challenges that await us in 1996.

Today, Ohio is at the forefront nationally when it comes to conservative, responsible fiscal management of state government.

When I took office on January 14, 1991, Ohio faced a $1.5 billion deficit. Working together, we overcame that deficit, cut Medicaid growth to an historic low, and held state spending to the lowest growth rate in 40 years.

We actually underspent last year's budget by over $900 million, and we included a tax cut for all Ohioans. Next year, families of four will get $1,200 more in family exemptions, saving them $100 million. And, for older Ohioans, we raised the homestead exemption eligibility cap to keep pace with inflation, enabling 76,000 more Ohio seniors to participate and saving them $23 million.

And, to weather the next storm, we built Ohio's "rainy day fund" to $828 million, with another $100 million set aside to respond to potential reductions in federal human services funding.

If Washington could manage its finances the way we have in Ohio, the federal budget would be balanced.

But we didn't stop there. In Ohio, we are truly reinventing government!

Last year, we acted to eliminate two state departments and privatize all remaining state liquor stores, reorganized the Department of Administrative Services to save $10 million a year, and returned responsibility for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation back where it belongs.

We have reduced the number of employees in departments I directly control by nearly 3,200, excluding corrections. We have also eliminated 65 boards and commissions. Your sunset review committee is preparing another list of possible candidates to ride off into that sunset!

Thanks to outstanding cooperation from our employee unions and their enlightened leaders, we have made major progress on our number one management goal, "total quality management." We call it Quality Services through Partnership, and Ohio today is recognized as the national leader in "quality" management.

Thirty thousand state workers are now trained, and 350 quality teams are at work throughout state government -- cutting red tape, cutting costs, cutting bureaucracy, and improving the delivery of services to our customers, the taxpayers of Ohio.

Our goal is to have America's first high-performance state workforce -- a workforce that reflects what Ohio's private sector is doing, and that is delivering value -- quality service for the least amount of money.

By continuing to work harder and smarter, we have been able to maintain that "line in the sand" I drew in my first State of the State address on behalf of this generation of Ohio children. We have increased state funding by 34 percent for programs that help empower families and children, understanding that they represent Ohio's future.

The number of fully immunized two-year-olds is up 16 percent over last year. Infant mortality rates are dropping. We've increased state funding for child care fivefold. Ohio has the lowest percentage of uninsured children in America. Child support collections are up 30 percent. And Ohio is far and away the leader in America in supporting Head Start.

What those numbers mean is that we're helping more and more Ohio families to become self-sufficient. And when families succeed, Ohio succeeds. That's the bottom line. That's what it's all about.

We also recognized that, if we are really going to create an environment where Ohio families can succeed, we had to redefine "education" to mean "lifelong learning" -- a continuous process of personal development that begins at conception and continues throughout a person's life.

The only states that will prosper in the 21st century are those committed to lifelong learning. There are far too many people today in America who are anxious about the future because of the tremendous changes, driven by technology, that are taking place in the workforce. Our commitment to lifelong learning can help those people find a place in the high-performance workplace of today and tomorrow.

With our Family and Children First initiative leading the way, we have committed ourselves to achieving the first national education goal that all children will start school ready to learn. This initiative, which began as nine pilot projects in 13 counties, will soon be active in all 88 counties. It strives to create local, community-based systems to cut costly bureaucratic red tape that can keep families and their children from receiving the services they desperately need.

1996 must be the year that the state's partnership with local Family and Children First Councils moves to a new level. Guy Guckenberger of the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners is a great role model. Working with his fellow commissioners, city council, the judiciary, United Way, all other service agencies, and the community, the local Council has pledged to redesign their services based on a new, three-year children's plan. Other counties are following suit.

We have pledged our complete support to cooperate with them on removing state barriers. I have told our Cabinet we must place families above bureacracies -- which will mean redesigning the size and structure of state government and the services we deliver.

Today, I want to mention two new, specific proposals, using existing state resources, that we are working closely with state legislators to develop. The first is a wellness block grant that is being spearheaded by State Representative Priscilla Mead and which will give local Family and Children First Councils flexible funding to tackle the problem of teenage pregnancy.

The other proposal focuses on urban schools. Working very closely with Senators Cooper Snyder and Merle Kearns, and Representatives Mike Fox and Cheryl Winkler, Family and Children First will develop "School Readiness Resource Centers" in targeted neighborhoods to link middle school kids at risk of dropping out with the resources they need to stay in school. It will also help ease pressures on classroom teachers.

I've often said that if I had a magic wand to solve Ohio's problems, I would reconstitute the family. So many of our families are vulnerable, and I am going to do everything in my power to protect them.

That includes making sure that we keep anti-family, anti-jobs casino gambling out of Ohio. To those who intend to try to bring casino gambling to our state, I say: "We don't want it. We don't need it. And you're not going to win!"

In our K-through-12 component of "lifelong learning," we've made great progress in our shared commitment to provide solid, financial support for Ohio schools.

Since 1991, we have increased funding for primary and secondary education by 30 percent -- nine percent above the inflation rate over that same period. And our new two-year budget committed an additional $190 million for Ohio's low-wealth districts to further narrow the equity gap.

Over the last five years, we have done more to improve equity and fairness in state funding for public education than at any other time, and you deserve credit for it!

We also allocated $26 million for research and development in our 550 break-the-mold schools across Ohio -- and these "venture" schools are today bringing new and better ways of learning into the classroom.

Our commitment to spend a half-billion dollars on SchoolNet and SchoolNet Plus will make Ohio a national leader in bringing technology into the classroom. And, most importantly, we have committed the dollars necessary to give our teachers the training to maximize the use of this technology.

We have also supported diversity and competitiveness in Ohio's education system, and we recognize the contributions and sacrifice of the families that support the system. Our decision to increase the administrative reimbursement to our non-public schools has made Ohio first in the United States in supporting non-public education.

I also wholeheartedly support moving forward with charter school legislation. It's another way to make our school system more competitive.

And for the life of me, I cannot understand why the education lobby is fighting our scholarship program in the Cleveland Public Schools, which gives 1,500 low-income families real choices in deciding where to send their children to school. To those who would stand in the way, I say: "Give those parents a choice."

Some members of the same group have frustrated our efforts to bring meaningful performance evaluation to Ohio schools. We want a simple, locally driven system of periodic evaluations. While most teachers would pass with flying colors, this system would help us identify those teachers who are struggling so that we can get them the help they need. Those who just cannot make the grade would be asked to leave the classroom and make way for others who can.

New initiatives like these are needed everywhere, but especially in our urban school districts, whose failures have been devastating to Ohio families.

For example, it has been said about the Cleveland Public Schools that, barring a dramatic turnaround, 50 out of every 100 of today's eighth graders will drop out of school. Only 33 will graduate from high school, and fewer than 10 of these will have passed the 12th grade proficiency test.

And the numbers in Ohio's other urban districts are not encouraging. America and Ohio cannot survive with one-half of our urban kids dropping out of school.

Fully three-fourths of the people on welfare and in prison are high school dropouts. Since 1991, Ohio's prison population has risen from 33,000 to 44,000, with many of those new inmates being casualties from our failed urban school districts.

But we have been fighting back. Thanks to the General Assembly, we have increased state support for Head Start by more than 600 percent since 1991, and, by 1998, every eligible Ohio child whose family desires will be in a preschool education program.

It will take time -- but early investments in our children will pay off.

Our Jobs for Ohio's Graduates program identifies at-risk kids in the 11th grade, keeps them in school, and helps them find a job. As national chairman of the Jobs for America's Graduates program, I am proud that we lead the nation in support of this valuable program.

Through our School-to-Work initiative, which Lt. Governor Hollister heads -- and understanding that we must develop a first-class skills system for the 70 percent of our kids who don't go on to college -- we are making the classroom more relevant to the workplace, thereby motivating kids to stay in school and do better.

And I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge Ohio's private sector for its increasing involvement in our schools. I have always said, show me a school district where business is involved, and I'll show you measurable improvement in student performance. And there is no state in the country where the private sector is more involved.

But we must do even more. I commend State Superintendent John Goff and the State Board of Education for developing their Urban Schools Initiative, which will address the challenges confronting Ohio's urban school districts. Among other things, the Initiative will focus on academic performance, parental involvement, and the problem of violence in our schools.

One last major concern impacting our urban schools is the fact that the current federal budget reduces funding for several Ohio education programs.

For example, cuts in both the Title I program for disadvantaged students and the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program would undermine our efforts to assist thousands of low-income children in our urban school districts.

If we really care about making a difference in the lives of our at-risk kids, we cannot let this happen. I have long advocated a greatly reduced federal role in education. If that means shifting the responsibility for programs like the ones I just mentioned back to the states, then so be it.

If funding cannot be found in the current budget, I am recommending that we look hard at using rainy day fund money to guarantee that these programs continue next school year, and then put them into the education mix when we develop our next biennial budget.

Our urban school districts present us with our most formidable challenges in education. We should be thankful, though, that there are many wonderful success stories, including right here in Columbus.

Johnson Park Middle School is a glowing example of the good things that can happen through parental and community involvement, and I am proud to welcome some of the Johnson Park family who have joined us here today.

On a regular basis, teachers meet with eighth grade parents and students to prepare them for the 9th Grade Proficiency Test. Parents are taught how to help their children understand the materials and actually take the same review test the school provides their students.

This parent-student-teacher partnership has helped over 50 percent of Johnson Park's students in passing all parts of that test as eighth graders, which is well above the district average. We should be proud that proficiency test scores are up all over the state, and our ACT and SAT scores are at a new high.

Seated beside Columbus Superintendent Larry Mixon is Johnson Park Principal Marvenia Bosley. They are joined by a number of Johnson Park students and parents. We salute all of you for what you are accomplishing. And, especially to the parents who are here: Thank God you understand that parents must be a child's first teacher.

Our job is to make sure we replicate these outstanding programs statewide. There is hope, and Johnson Park Middle School is living proof.

Regarding higher education, which is part of the third phase of lifelong learning, our state system has moved forward with new improvements. The Board of Regents is now examining doctoral programs and will withdraw state support from those that can no longer be justified. Performance is being measured at our two-year colleges, and we have created financial incentives for those that can demonstrate they are doing an outstanding job.

Our two-year colleges are doing a marvelous job of working with our high schools on School-to-Work -- helping businesses retrain their workers -- and upgrading the skills of Ohio's displaced workers.

Our new state budget makes our institutions of higher education more accountable for the buildings they want to build. The time has come to slow construction and greatly expand the use of technology on our campuses, or they will become obsolete. I asked the Board of Regents to examine this issue and am very impressed with the final review document they prepared.

All of our institutions must become bastions of lifelong learning and possess the technology infrastructure to make it a reality.

Because we have redefined education as lifelong learning, Ohio is truly taking the lead in preparing for the 21st century.

In the meantime, we've been busy knocking the rust off the belt and making Ohio America's jobs and productivity belt. In 1995, Ohio's average annual unemployment fell to its lowest rate in over two decades. And for an unprecedented third year in a row, Ohio led the nation in Site Selection magazine's tracking of new facilities and plant expansions.

As I have said for five years, state government's role in the jobs arena is to help create a climate that encourages businesses to stay, expand, and be attracted to Ohio.

Toward that end, our efforts to fix our workers' compensation system are beginning to pay off. Employer rates have been cut, as has the backlog of cases. But we still have a long way to go. Our goal is to assure that the Bureau of Workers' Compensation becomes an Ohio asset, rather than a liability.

Our "Jobs Bills" are making a difference, led by the Jobs Creation Tax Credit. Since February 1993, 368 companies have taken advantage of this program, committing $4.5 billion in investments to create almost 41,000 jobs and retain another 59,000.

With the leadership of Lt. Governor Hollister, the General Assembly is moving forward with the final pieces of Jobs Bill III. This legislation targets our urban core areas and distressed rural counties.

One provision of Jobs Bill III already enacted into law has begun paying large dividends. Ohio's Investment Tax Credit has spurred 119 businesses to invest $483 million in new manufacturing machinery and equipment.

Congress should pass and the President should sign the job-creation capital gains tax cut so that businesses can create even more jobs in Ohio.

Each time an Ohioan gets a job, another family is strengthened. And when families succeed, Ohio succeeds.

Finally, in the quality of life arena, we have made much progress in the three areas we have targeted for improvement: Public safety, health care, and the environment.

Working with the Attorney General as our partner, you passed one of the nation's most sensible, far-reaching packages of anti-crime legislation. Our new laws provided the most sweeping reform of Ohio's sentencing laws in the last 20 years and implemented goals we have long advocated, such as "truth-in-sentencing," stricter punishments for repeat offenders, and alternative community punishments for non-violent offenders.

We also acted to toughen the penalties against, and treat as adults, those young people who commit violent crime. Crime is down in the state of Ohio, but, the rising rate of juvenile crime is the number one urban problem across the country.

I am convinced that Ohio's nationally recognized commitment to families and children and to lifelong learning will do more to address this problem than anything else we can do.

With the support of the General Assembly, we have continued our unprecedented expansion of the PASSPORT program that helps older Ohioans remain in their own homes at 40 percent of the cost of nursing home care. By the end of this biennium, PASSPORT will serve 23,000 senior citizens -- an 852 percent increase since 1991.

And we have not forgotten the quality of our natural resources. The NatureWorks program, for example, is now on course to make dramatic improvements in our parks, waterways, and recreation areas in communities across Ohio.

But most importantly, the Ohio E.P.A. reported last year that our air and water are the cleanest they have been in the last 20 years!

By working together to provide for safer communities, improved health care, and a cleaner environment, we have certainly helped make Ohio a better place to call "home" for our families.

I am convinced that, in addition to our Family and Children First and lifelong learning initiatives, our foremost challenge in 1996 will be moving forward with Ohio solutions to the three major federal issues that get to the heart of empowering families to become self-sufficient: Medicaid reform, welfare reform, and employment and training.

We have done much to contain the Medicaid "pacman," which grew by 245 percent in Ohio over the last 10 years -- a decade in which its share of the state budget soared from 19 to 30 percent. In fact, in Fiscal '95, Ohio's major Medicaid program grew by just 1.4 percent -- the lowest growth rate ever and far below the 10 percent national average.

But the only way to continue keeping our costs under control and reduce the federal deficit is to have more flexibility -- flexibility to leverage the state's tremendous purchasing power to get the best health care for the least cost, just as we have for our state workforce when we saved $34 million in the first two years of our managed care program.

We care just as much about women, children, the disabled, and the elderly as the federal government does. And you and I are more accountable to the people than the federal government ever will be! Regardless of what happens in Washington, we must move forward with our efforts to provide access to quality health care at an affordable cost.

And through it all, we must always think of the overburdened taxpayers who are footing the bill and who want to know their money is being well spent.

I want you to know that we will move forward as partners. We will work closely with you, with local governments, and with providers so that we can build a consensus on how to get the job done.

Just as we have made progress in controlling our Medicaid costs, you should all be proud that Ohio has 271,000 fewer people on welfare today than at our peak in 1992. House Bill 167, which passed last year with overwhelming bipartisan support, gave Ohio the most comprehensive, well-balanced welfare reform package in the nation -- our "tough love, self-sufficiency" program, which was supported by the Children's Defense Fund and which Time magazine called "one of the most intelligent" in the nation.

Unless the President gives us the authority to implement our tough-love, self-sufficiency program, it will be stalled because we won't be able to move forward with its major provisions. That will mean more people on welfare, and fewer who are self-sufficient.

Just as we have been willing to undertake major system redesign with respect to Medicaid and welfare reform, so must we act in another critical area. I mentioned awhile ago that our unemployment rate is at its lowest in over 20 years.

The bad news is that too many people are still out of work, and too many of them do not have the skills to become employed in today's workforce. We have got to find better ways to address their needs so they can take care of themselves and their families.

When we first looked at what we inherited, we found 15 state agencies or offices administering 51 workforce programs. I am proud to report that we have made measurable progress in consolidating and focusing these efforts, but we must do more, especially since the federal government is going to cut our funding by 25 percent.

Lieutenant Governor Hollister is working with the Governor's Human Resources Investment Council to develop long-term strategies for coordination among employment and training partners to meet the needs of Ohio employers and workers.

We must also further redesign our own job training functions, including those related to public assistance, into a more seamless system.

It's obvious that we have our work cut out for us. Regardless of what happens in Washington, I look forward to working with you, local governments, and providers to continue to redesign welfare, Medicaid, and employment and training programs so that we can better respond to the needs of Ohio's families.

I will say it one final time: When families succeed, Ohio succeeds.

I couldn't help but think of this last September, when we opened the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. As I looked at the city skyline, I said to myself, "You know, we've brought about a change that will last 100 years."

But then I thought, "You know, George, if by working with your fellow Ohioans and the General Assembly, we can continue to reinvent education, employment and training, health care, and welfare, we can make a 100-year change of a much more meaningful kind."

That's our challenge.

And I can't help but think that the two mottoes that guide me will help us meet that challenge. The first, I brought with me from my years as Mayor of Cleveland: "Together, we can do it."

The other is our state motto: "With God, all things are possible."

I'm absolutely confident that, working together just as we've done in the past, and with God's help, we can meet our challenge and secure Ohio's future -- our families and children.

Thank you.