Three priorities for 2010

Dear Fellow Nebraskans:

As we enter a new decade, we have the opportunity to reflect on accomplishments made in the last few years and take our first steps toward new endeavors. In my State of the State address, I said that we have worked hard these past few years to position Nebraska as an attractive place to live and do business.

My focus for the coming year is to prepare our state to take advantage of new opportunities by focusing on three priorities: growing Nebraska's economy, strengthening education and developing an even more efficient state government.

Growing our economy means an every day focus on job creation. Our efforts to modernize Nebraska's economic incentive programs, to lower taxes, and to limit the growth of state spending by investing in priority areas have resulted in a stronger, more stable economy.

We responded to the national economic slowdown by seizing the opportunity to make Nebraska more competitive by reducing spending. Many states responded by raising income or sales taxes. We did not. As a result, Nebraska's financial health is stronger than most of our peers across America.

A second area of focus involves strengthening education. The Nebraska P-16 Initiative is helping our state make progress on a number of education-related goals. We started 2010 by making the first update to Nebraska's high school graduation requirements since 1984 by strengthening core curriculum requirements. The class of 2015 will be the first to graduate with every student having taken a more rigorous series of classes that include four years of English and three years of math, science and social studies.

We have also developed a proposal to create a Nebraska Virtual High School, which will be included in the state's Race to the Top application being submitted to the U.S. Department of Education. The virtual high school will provide a more dynamic and interactive way for students to learn and provide students across the state the access to a wider range of classes from foreign languages to advanced math and science courses.

Today's jobs require stronger academic skills than was true 20 years ago. In order to prepare students for the modern workplace, we need to transform our education system from preschool all the way through college. As good as Nebraska's schools are today, they must be even better in the future. The road to prosperity for our state and for our students is a good education.

The third area involves using technology to reform the delivery of government services in order to become more productive and more efficient. This year we will complete the building of our statewide radio network to enable interoperable communications among local, state and federal first responders.

Additionally, we will continue to reform the way the state provides government services by focusing on making them more accessible and convenient for our businesses and residents. Technology has allowed us to transform the way we do business by making services available online through Nebraska.gov. More than 200 online services are available today to help us deliver improved services to the citizens of Nebraska.

I will continue to focus on growing our economy through new job creation, strengthening Nebraska's education system so our students can compete in the 21st Century economy; and developing a more efficient government through greater use of technology.

While 2010 will be a challenging year for Nebraska and all states, it is essential that we continue to position Nebraska for future growth. Our roadmap is clear and I am confident the year ahead will provide us with new opportunities to move forward.