For immediate release Feb. 22, 1999
Contact: Melissa Forsythe

"Governors set an ambitious goal of achieving a guarantee that in the future, dedicated revenues collected from motorists would all be invested for their intended purpose, repairing and improving our nation's highways and transit systems," Governor Patton told the NGA's Economic Development committee. "We achieved that ambitious goal with the passage of TEA 21." Patton and other governors are now calling on Congress to make the same guarantee for aviation, through the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, which expires next March. The fund contains about $10 billion for airport security, safety and construction needs.

The governors attended a White House dinner Sunday night, and will conduct a roundtable discussion with the President Monday morning at 9:30 a.m.

Recouping tobacco money from the Master Settlement Agreement is among the expected topics of discussion. "Our policy is this is state money and the state should decide the allocation," Governor Patton said. "The separate $5.15 billion dollars we've negotiated for the tobacco farmers from the cigarette companies will go to farmers, and will never be in government hands." Governor Patton opposes an additional 55 cent federal excise tax on cigarettes.

Kentucky has moved up to become one of the leading states on technology use, according to a report shared at the governors' meeting. The Digital State 1998, prepared by the Progress and Freedom Foundation in conjunction with Government Technology magazine, rates Kentucky 19th out of 50 states, a big jump from 1997's 43rd rating. The report cites internet access to state information and calls Business Regulation the most dramatic the area of improvement. Kentucky is making even more progress now in developing electronic filing for licenses and permits under Governor Patton's Empower Kentucky initiative. The report also scored Kentucky high for school technology investment, placing Kentucky 6th in the country. (For more information on the digital state report, contact Kentucky's Chief Information Office, Aldona Valicenti.) Kentucky's also in the top ten states in higher education. "This report is encouraging," Governor Patton said, "and we expect to achieve even more results as we implement our programs such as the Commonwealth Virtual University. "

Monday, Governor Patton will report to the NGA's Smart Kids Task Force on Kentucky's investment in school technology. "Since passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act in 1990, we've allocated $621 million for technology in our elementary and secondary schools. By July of next year, we should achieve our goal of one high-performance networked computer for each six students," Governor Patton said. "73 percent of our schools are fully wired for voice, video

and data, and 63 percent of our nearly 38-thousand classrooms are fully wired with access to the internet and email. We should reach our goal of 100 percent by next year. "

On Saturday, February 20th, Governor Patton assumed the chairmanship of the National Education Goals Panel. The NEGP unanimously approved a resolution to rename the National Education Goals as "America's Education Goals" and continue the efforts to meet those goals beyond the year 2000. That resolution will be submitted to Congress, and would rename the panel, as "America's Education Goals Panel." Governor Patton said, "I want to continue and strengthen our role as a resource on what's really working to help students and schools improve across the nation." The Goals Panel was established in 1990 with a mission to report on the nation's progress on meeting key educational goals, including early childhood development, student achievement and teacher preparation. Eight governors, four members of Congress, four state legislators, the U.S. Secretary of Education and a White House representative serve on the Goals Panel.

Governor Patton said he would like to see the Goals Panel make a contribution in the area of education accountability. "I've asked the staff to convene some of the best minds and practitioners in the country on this issue to advise us on how we can best help states with accountability policy and practices."