We are making important inroads in education. While there is no shortcut to prosperity, we do know the road to prosperity invariably begins in the classroom. That is why we have committed so much to paving that road through increased teacher salaries, strengthened classroom instruction and, of course, new revenue sources to pump millions of additional dollars into our classrooms. Now we must pass and implement the Achieving Classroom Excellence or ACE initiative. Last year we made a promise to our teachers. We pledged to pay 100 percent of their health insurance premiums, and we did. But, we also pledged that Oklahoma would no longer tolerate shamefully low wages while other states tried to lure our great teachers away. This year, we must honor our commitment and stay the course. Oklahomans went to the polls and championed our schools. Now Oklahoma leaders must champion our teachers. A rock-solid education also means the expectation of excellence. It means lifting up our children so they can see the horizon of possibilities that stretches before them. It is only through raising expectations and striving for excellence that our children can reach their full potential. The education reforms I bring before you this session have a clear and vital aim: To make sure our children learn what they need to learn in our schools. We will identify students’ needs and ensure they get the tools that will enable them to achieve excellence. We will expand full-day kindergarten so our youngest generation can begin that journey to excellence. In our middle schools, we will improve lagging math scores by providing additional training for math teachers and computer labs for students. And, we will require meaningful 8th-grade testing, with resources and help for students who need it, to ensure every student demonstrates the skills and knowledge necessary for future success. In our high schools, we will promote a college-bound curriculum and phase in end-of-course testing that demands results from our students. We’ll require three years of high school math, and we’ll make the senior year count by encouraging more of our students attend college. We will do that by offering to pay full tuition costs for up to six hours of college credit per semester for our high school seniors. We will also employ additional performance reviews to guarantee more education dollars get to the classroom and we get the biggest bang for our education buck. And, we must also continue to fully fund scholarships so every student can attend college. It is within our reach to make Oklahoma schools the best in the nation, and now is the time to build on our momentum.