Governor Otter entertains questions from the media at a press conference immediately following his State of the State address.

On Monday I delivered my 9th State of the State address before a joint session of the Idaho Legislature. I presented a balanced budget that provides a significant increase for education. My budget provides the funding to achieve the ambitious goals of our "K through Career" initiative. We are increasing spending on education in FY 2016 by 7.4% or approximately $60 million more than we did in 2009 before the great recession. It also calls for additional funding for a career ladder and professional development for teachers, as well as more college and career counseling for students in keeping with our goal of at least 60% of Idaho citizens between the ages of 25 and 34 having a post-secondary degree or professional certification by 2020.

I promised that we would restore education funding and this budget puts us another step closer to doing that. In addition to education I am recommending additional funding to invest in more career opportunities for Idahoans which in turn will lead to more economic growth, a total of $8 million in my budget would provide the kinds of critical resources needed for job creation as well as workforce development.  

• Read my press release for State of the State Address
• Watch my speech

Whether it's commuting to and from work, hauling goods, or traveling across our great state chances are that it involved Idaho's transportation infrastructure. The tireless work of our state's stewards of public transportation is imperative to the vitality of all of Idaho, which is why I wanted to take some time to highlight some of the achievements and hard work that Idaho Transportation Department (ITD) does for our state every day.

Ensuring safe and efficient travel is the department's goal and in terms of safety ITD recently reported that for the third time in four years that annual roadway fatalities on our state's highways are fewer than 200. This mark is a goal that we had been unable to achieve for the better part of 60 years! This comes despite the fact that the number of cars on the road and the number of miles traveled have steadily increased. While this is great achievement our state must continue to work hard to move the number of roadway fatalities towards zero deaths. 

ITD has also recently been able to reach a new standard for keeping Idaho's roads safe and clear during winter storms. That mobility measure of good traveling conditions on state highways during winter-storm weather has risen from 28% four years ago to 70% today. Because of this success, 14 states, two Canadian provinces, Sweden, Belgium, and several universities have contacted ITD about the system. The system has won numerous national awards, the most recent being the Alfred E. Johnson award for leadership from AASHTO - the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The award was given to ITD's Dennis Jensen, who spearheaded the program and implemented it statewide.

Dennis Jensen