of minnesota reached a cut by almost 15%. the two new heads of these invaluable institutions are here tonight. dr. eric kaehler, 16th president of the university of minnesota, president kaehler? [ applause ] dr. steven rosenstone is the fourth chancellor of the minnesota state colleges and universities. [ applause ] don't sit down because they're joined tonight by the new director of the office of higher

education. [ applause ]them, together with legislators and other higher education leaders, have the enormous responsibility to retool minnesota's colleges and universities and give those students the crucial advantages needed to succeed in this highly competitive global economy. we're told by the year 2018 70% of the jobs will require a post-secondary degree. that's just the beginning, however, not the end. post-secondary students need more than degrees, they need the world's best educations so they can thrive in that world. and minnesota will not thrive unless they do. chancellor rosenstone and president kaehler need our support to make all of their campuses excellent. the curricula in classrooms must be world class and

state-of-the-art. they must prepare their students for the jobs of the future and not the past. it's already happening in many classrooms on u of m and minuscule campuses. mr. olseth developed the program called iron range engineering, a hands-on learning experience where students do real engineering work for minnesota companies. it's so successful that the engineering department at stanford university invited him there to teach their faculty about the benefits of his new model. when iron range engineering meets silicon valley, well, ron, i just hope you have a share of the royalties. great work, ron olseth. [ applause ]

antoinette mccarthy is another wonderful success story. she said, quote, i had tried college before but i wasn't as successfk scessful as i had hop. she struggled to find a dekrentd paying job with a career in a future. now antoinette is poise with success. she just completed a fast track program at ember hills community college, receiving a certificate as a nursing assistant. that certificate means that she will earn on average nearly double what someone would at a minimum wage medical job. congratulation, antoinette mccarthy. [ applause ] we need fast track on every campus in minnesota. we need state and federal job training and workforce development monies to be better

coordinated with higher education funding and programs so that all of our students come out our educational systems skilled and ready to succeed. the success of our state depends upon it. another prerequisite or children's and grandchildren's future success is for to restore fiscal responsibility to minnesota government. last year legislators who voted for the final budget bills and i increased borrowing from our schools by $750 million and borrowing from our future by another $750 million. $1.5 billion in additional debt should put our so-called $876 billion surplus in its proper perspective. if my final tax proposal to raise income taxes on only the wealthiest 2% of minnesotans had

been accepted not only would this budget have been balanced in that $1.5 billion of additional borrowing unnecessary, but also the current budget forecast for the next one that shows a surplus rather than a $1.3 billion deficit. [ applause ] in fairness i acknowledge that many of you in the legislator wanted to balance the budget by reducing spending. next november minnesotans will decide which approach they prefer. until then, let us resolve that we will conduct this session's financial affairs responsibly. no more borrowing.

as stewards of the public trust i ask us to leave one final legacy to future generations of minnesotans. wonderful state capitol building is wearing down and falling apart. they give you the wait until someone is seriously injured or even worse. when the public outcry will compel our action, or we can act now. i'm asking you legislators to make the most unselfish vote of your careers, to kick yourself and me and everyone else out of the capitol as needed for the four years or so necessary to renovate this building and to make it both functional and safe for the next 100 years. it will be hard on all of us, but so much better for those who follow us. and that is the essence of selfless stewardship. it epitomizes the kind of legacy in which our children and grandchildren will be grateful. when this magnificent capitol opened in 1905 minnesota was a very different state. and not nearly as successful.

our citizens per capita income was below the rest of the country's and it dropped to only 85% of the national average by 1920. there it floundered for the next 25 years. before beginning a gradual climb to parody with the rest of the country in the 1960s, rising above the national average in the 1970s, and continuing to improve thereafter. so how did minnesota become above average and even better? the president of the federal reserve bank op minneapolis recently noted, as of others that the number of educated people in our state's labor force is higher than the nation. therefore, their productivity and their work quality are better. lewis johnson, contributed our success to high rates of labor force participation, especially by women. greater investments in human capital, such as education and health care. and both public sector and private sector investments and physical capital. so as we strive to improve our

state for ourselves and for our descendents. let us not forget what has lifted us from below average to above average to outstanding. let's not destroy good wages and benefits, damage our schools, colleges, and universities, or curtail our capital investments in search of another strategy of unproven value or one of proven less value. minnesota is a remarkable state. our people, our businesses, our farms, our non-profits and our governments have worked well together to achieve a standard of living and quality of life which surpass most. both republican governors and lidge laters have contributed to that success. let us please build upon what has been done before us, not tear it down. minnesotans want more efficient government. they want better services. and they want us to cooperate and compromise in order to

deliver them. i stand ready to work with legislators on both sides of the aisle to enact laws that will better minnesota. [ applause ] and they will be the bill which involve members of my administration and legislators from both parties in the development. those bills i will support. i'm not interested in highly partisan extreme measure which are for campaign literature rather than law. those bills, i will not support. [ applause ] president john f. kennedy in his book wrote the following. it is compromise that prevents each set of reformers from crushing the group on the other side of the political spectrum. the fanatics and extremists are

always disappointed that the failure of their government rush to implement all of their principles and to denounce those of their opponents. but the legislator knows there are few if any issues where all the truth and all the right and all the angels are on just one side. if we cooperate, if we share our best ideas, if we exchange our rigid ideologies for shared idea y8ials, we have revitalize our state and we will be doing the jobs that the people of minnesota sent us here to do. only -- only by working together can we achieve a lasting legacy in which we and they can take deserved pride. may god bless the united states of america and the state of minnesota. thank you very much. [ applause ]

the nation's governors are headed here to washington, d.c. this weekend to attend the winter meeting of the national governors association. our live coverage begins saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern with the opening news conference. also show you a discussion on growing state economies, and

we'll hear from the economic development and commerce committees. sunday our coverage begins at 9:30 a.m. eastern with a look at education and early childhood issues. the nation's governors will also talking about hunger and later changing role of the national guard. we'll wrap things up on monday at 9:00 a.m. eastern with the closing session featuring nga president, nebraska's republican governor. the ng a's winter meeting live saturday, sunday, and monday on our companion network c-span. join us later for more from american history tv. the focus is george washington and his lasting impact on american life. historian richard nor on the smith lectures on the first president from washington's home in mt. vernon, virginia. american history tv gets under way tonight at 8:00 eastern here on c-span 3. at the 1968 olympic games john carlos and tommy smith raised their fists in the black power salute.

>> this is black power. they intimidated so many people, white people in particular, by using that phrase, black power, because when they use that word or that phrase black power it made many people think that black power meant destruction. blowing up the statue of liberty or ground zero, destroying america. it wasn't anything about destroying america. it was about rebuilding america and having america to have a new paradigm in terms of how we can truly be with eachnd every one did their pledge when we were going to elementary school and junior high school about the land of the free, the home of the brave. we all wanted to be great americans, but as young athletes we found it something was wrong, something was broke. we wanted to take our time to evaluate and then take our initiative to fix it. >> discover more about african-american history during black history month on book tv on c-span2 and online at the

c-span video library. search and share from over 25 years of c-span programming at c-span.org/videolibrary. more state of the state addresses now with new mexico governor susana martinez. she spoke at the state capital in san jose. she talked about repealing a law that allows illegal immigrants to receive driver's licenses and talked about small businesses receiving tax benefits returning home from war. this 40-minute event is courtesy of new mexico's kmme. thank you.

lieutenant governor -- lieutenant governor, senate president pro tem -- >> sergeant-at-arms. [ chanting ] >> i'm going to ask all of you to please refrain. we appreciate if you would leave the house.

[ applause ] governor martinez, i want to welcome you. welcome you. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. lieutenant governor, senate president pro tem, mr. speaker, our thoughts and prayers are

with you and your loved ones, and new mexico is pulling for you. democratic and republican leaders, esteemed members of the new mexico legislature, representative nunez, chairman of the independent caucus -- [ applause ] -- honorable members of the judiciary, tribal governors and lieutenant governors, former governors, members of new mexico's congressional delegation, distinguished guests, the state's first gentleman, my husband, chuck franco. my cousins are here today as

well from el paso who told me they didn't fully realize i was governor and said it jokingly, until they saw it on "the view." and all my fellow new mexicans. thank you for the high honor of addressing you this afternoon. last year when gathered at this time, new mexico was facing the largest structural budget deficit in state history. for years government had overspent, and as federal stimulus dollars dried up, we had holes throughout the budget. the state of our state was one of financial crisis. we faced a tremendous challenge. many said we couldn't get it done, that we could not both balance the budget and still protect our priorities. we had a vigorous debate. some felt we should have raised taxes, despite the jobs that

would have been lost. others felt we needed deep cuts in education and medicaid. i'm proud of the fact that we were able to work together, the legislature and the governor, democrats, republicans. we came together and found a better way. we protected classroom spending and medicaid, and we did not raise taxes. public officials must never forget that we serve the public. not the other way around. that's why in a time of shared sacrifice i felt it important to lead by example. we eliminated the chefs from the governor's residence.

cut salaries there by 55%. it worked out well. chuck even learned how to make more than just baloney sandwiches. and i kept my promise to get rid of the ultimate symbol of waste and excess. we sold the state's luxury jet. we cut waste across state government, cut cell phones, got rid of non-essential state cars, and the governor's office we slashed our budget and reverted over a half a million dollars back into the savings account. cabinet secretary salaries were cut by 10%, and we dramatically reduced the number of political appointees. and together, the governor and

the legislature, hammered out a budget compromise that reduced spending while protecting priorities and balanced the state budget. new mexicans can be confident that we didn't lose sight of our priorities along the way. over the past year, school districts throughout the state had to do more with less, but they did it by cutting administrative waste and increasing the percentage of their funding that goes directly into the classroom. we protected health care for the most vulnerable, expanded child care for working moms. food stamps for the elderly and disabled. school clothes for kids most in need. thinking about the state of the state last year, it gives me great pleasure to report to you

today that new mexico's financial house is back in order. we're no longer running a budget deficit. in fact, our historic deficit has now become a projected $250 million surplus in one year. but a great deal of economic uncertainty persists across the country, across the globe, and too many people are still hurting. we must move cautiously. we cannot go back to the credit card spending that contributed to the financial crisis in the first place. that's why i propose keeping budgets flat for most state

agencies. rather than using the surplus to grow government, i propose safeguarding it by using it to make targeted reforms. investments in our future to help struggling students, to make new mexico more competitive with job creating tax reforms and to maintain a safety net for our most vulnerable. my budget focuses on -- on these high priorities. increasing state spending by only 3.6%. a rate that tracks with a population and inflation growth in this state. as we continue to do more with less, we must never forget that our budget is a statement about our values. that's why my budget invests $45 million more in medicaid. providing health care for the poor and the disabled.

federal medicare cuts are threatening to close nursing homes, leaving patients, parents, and grandparents with nowhere to go. we promise to be there, and that's why my budget includes $8 million to keep that promise, and keep those nursing homes open. and exactly half of the new spending, $97 million, is targeted towards improving our local schools. but it's not just throwing more money at the status quo. it's an investment in reform, an investment in initiatives that are designed to get

results and improve student performance. we took some very important first steps in education reform. just last week we announced the preliminary baseline grades for new mexico schools. they will continue to be fine tuned as we work with school districts to finalize the results. by this summer, every school will receive an official letter grade, an a, b, c, d, or f. finally, a school rating system that is uniquely our own, not a one-side-fits-all federal system, but, rather, an honest assessment of how our children are learning and improving. a way to identify struggling schools so we can get them the help that they need. i was encouraged last week to hear teachers, principals and parents saying things like, our school is so close. we're almost there. we can get a higher grade.

now we must take the next steps and take on the status quo once again. we know how essential learning to read is for our kids. the children learn to read by the third grade, and then they read to learn the rest of their lives. when we consider this issue we must consider the kids whose lives it impacts, and what will happen to them if we fail to act. consider the child who just can't learn to read. think about him. his parents love him, but maybe they're working long hours to make ends meet. so they can't read to him much at home. maybe his teacher knows he needs more one-on-one instruction, but there's no after-school tutoring. so the little boy doesn't get

the help, but we keep passing him on from one grade to the next. imagine that child in fourth and fifth grade, and on to middle school. now he can read the words, but doesn't really understand it. so he struggles to learn about history, geography, science. when he can't meet the standards, we don't offer him a hand up. we just lower the bar. sending him to the next grade and sending him a toxic message that he's not capable of making the cut. he's ashamed. he's frustrated, angry. and eventually, he drops out. i encountered many of these kids as a prosecutor. not when they were kids, but when they were living a life of crime as adults. we know that children who can't

read by the third grade are four times more likely to drop out, and 80% of our fourth graders, 80%, cannot read proficiently. as president obama's education secretary addressed this issue, talks about new mexico's status quo. he said, if your students keep being allowed to leave the third grade and fourth grade without being able to read, you're not doing him any favors. he's right. passing children who can't read from one grade to the next is not compassionate. it is morally wrong. are we going to turn a blind eye to the fact that 80% of our fourth graders not read