sarah swayze is a school found and she is a longtime civic leader and advocate, and empowering excellence is already expanding next year. it goes to show what's possible when a culture of innovation and work-based learning is allowed to take root and grow. lives changed. futures brightened. hope regained. both sarah and dekarion are here with us tonight. please join me in recognizing them for what they've accomplished. [applause] prioritizing students means setting the kind of high and rigorous expectations that bring out their very best. take literacy. last year we passed important legislation that requires schools to create personalized plans for students who are not reading proficiently at grade level. we also provide educators with no-cost training that's grounded in the science of reading. and we sent every first grader in the state of back of literacy enhancing books, known as decodables, to what parents reinforce reading skills at home. now it's time to do the same with another foundational skill, math. along with early childhood literacy, nothing is more predictive of future succe