Manufacturing, polymers and chemicals, Financial Services number two in property and casualty in the country. Theres nothing thats happening more exciting than in the area of it. Aerospace, where were now beginning to work in the dayton area thinking about being able to fly unmanned vehicles. In the area of agribusiness and, of course, energy, which has us all excited, and logistics. You see, if you have many different areas that you target, when one part of the economy goes down, it doesnt mean it sinks your state. And so jobsohio has been able to work to diversify us and its clearly working. And now that were funded, we think were even going to get more out of jobs ohio than weve seen so far. We also moved directly in the direction of common sense regulations. Mary taylor mary, stand up our Lieutenant Governor of the state of ohio. Marys husband, marys husband is a Small Businessman. He knows about the regulations and how they can kill Small Businesses, particularly the smallest businesses that are really fragile. Mary runs the common sense initiative. And lets just talk about our philosophy in one area oil and gas. We believe in having an environment where we can prosper the oil and gas industry, but we also believe that in the process of doing it, we cannot endanger people and we cannot endanger the environment. And if you use common sense, you, in fact, can protect the Public Safety. You, in fact, can protect the environment and you can create jobs, and we are doing it in ohio. Thank you, mary, for your efforts at bringing common sense. For me, there was always something unique about ohio, something special. I cant help but smile when i think about coming to ohio as a kid, as a little boy, seeing cleveland. Cleveland rocks. Literally. Been to the hall . Lake erie. Every time i fly up there, i look at that lake and i say, boy, are we lucky to have that lake erie right here in ohio. Weve got to take better care of it and we have to tell people more about it. You know, i loved ohio then, but then my father took me to columbus to visit ohio state university. A lot of dads, a lot of moms took their kids to visit ohio state. I fell in love. You know, i sensed ohios excitement then, i felt its opportunity. I knew ohio was going to be my home, and nobody was going to drag me away from this place because its just so, so awesome. But, folks, we have all seen our state drift over time. Weve seen it get old. Weve seen it begin to misfire and fall behind. But like a great old home, i knew ohio could be restored to its grandeur, to its greatness. You see, ohio is a land of hope and opportunity realize dreams for our families. Were safe, were friendly, were filled with the potential to pursue our passions. We take care of our neighbors. You know, ohio is a place where we can work, contribute, build a better community. We can be a shining example of how when people get together, they can get it right. And not just for ourselves, but for our children, of course, most especially. But, folks, the rebuilding has to continue. We cant rest on our gains, we havent tapped all of our potential. There are too many challenges that havent been met and we move forward with this vision in mind and therefore, we must continue to build our economy, continue to build the new and exciting 21st century jobs, and we must rebuild our roads, and our highways, and our bridges. We must provide for our children the opportunities that we all had. We need to lift, we need to lift the poor, we need to lift the beleaguered, and we need to have america follow us because i think theyre beginning to, and perhaps one day they may even join us here in the great state of ohio. [applause] this is our vision, and our budget is the next step in that vision, but i would ask all of you to keep your eyes focused on the mountaintop. Dont get distracted or discouraged by the twists or the turns or the detours along the road. I really believe our legacy depends on what we do. You know, ohio is getting it right and its being noticed. As most of you know here and some that are watching may not know, i recently traveled to davos, switzerland for the World Economic forum. I really wasnt that excited about going until i got there because i had the chance to meet with scores of job creators, ceos. You know, they all wanted to meet with me. And you know why . Because they couldnt figure out why we were figuring it out. All over the world, things arent working. Theres so much dysfunction. Theres so much falling apart, and they asked me one simple thing how are you getting these jobs created . What are you folks doing in ohio . And not only that, theyre saying how can you go from 0. 89 to a 2 billion surplus, from 8 billion in the hole to a surplus . How is it happening . Because this is something we have to Pay Attention to because we may want to come to ohio. It was so fantastic to be there and to be a person that could represent everyone here. I wish you were all there. Because we think some of them are going to come to ohio. We think we do have them excited because of the work that all of us have done. Well, what do we do now . Should we rest on our laurels . Thats what most people think when you pull out of the depths of where we were just, you know, kind of relax. Should we put the state on Cruise Control . Oh, i got another one for you why dont we just spend the surplus . Things are good, just go ahead and, you know, take your foot off the gas. Well, were going to keep our foot on the gas here in this administration, and we hope you will join us. And when we look at the Great Companies around the world, companies that continue to innovate, continue to embrace change, companies that have leaders with vision think about this, folks the ones that are the most exciting in the world today apple, cardinal health, amazon, google, the cleveland clinic, ibm, and right here in northwest ohio, marathon. These companies strive for change every day and the state of ohio must do it as well. We cannot rest on our laurels. These companies dont fear big ideas. We must not fear big ideas. We must embrace them. Oh, yeah, lets debate them. And thats the fun part of being in the government, debate them without the personal attack, debate them on the merits, but embrace them, because at the end of the day, big ideas, it will renew us, it will restore our youth, it will give us excitement. We will have a sprint in our step because big ideas renew people. The only thing that can stop us, ladies and gentlemen, is the fear of change, the fear of big ideas. Lets not go there. Were starting to hit on all cylinders. Our program of innovation and common sense policies, we believe, does create success. Just like the first budget helped us to dig out of the hole and set the stage for growth, this allows us to shift into higher gear. Our budget is designed to come together and create jobs and lets not forget, to provide help for the most vulnerable. First and foremost, ohios taxes are too high, and they are particularly punishing to our Small Businesses. We punish our Small Businesses with too high of taxes in our state. Flat out, end of story. They are the engine s of job creation in our state. And let me be clear, this is a comprehensive program to cut taxes by 1. 4 billion, and ill talk about a few of the specifics. We propose lowering the sales tax from five and a half to five percent. Weve also proposed broadening the base. And weve done and in doing so, we will be able to provide a 50 percent tax cut to our Small Businesses, a 50 percent tax cut. For example, if a business has 40,000 worth of income, they will only pay taxes on 20,000. What a shot in the arm. And remember something these are the people who create nearly 50 percent of the jobs. You know, when we think about job creation, we tend to think about all the, the big companies, the big operators. Over 50 percent of the jobs that are created in our state and across our country are those Small Business people. A 50 percent tax cut for them will spur Economic Development in our state and we have also proposed cutting the personal income tax by 20 percent over the next three years. And look around the country and see how many states are trying to wipe out their income tax. Yeah, it s a race to see who can create the best business climate. You know, and we did all of this with the income tax to avoid driving some of our best and brightest out of our state. Believease you dont me, talk to your friends. See how many people escape ohio to go to a place where the taxes are lower. We dont want to drive our best and brightest out of our state. We dont want to drive them out because they take their charity and their ideas and their innovation. We need to stop it, and it will breathe new life into ohios economy. You know, weve also proposed modernizing the severance tax so that all ohio can benefit from the oil and gas discoveries in our state. I know many of you are concerned about that. Since we started talking about it, i think the amount of money invested in our state in our reserves is about 4 billion. People are coming here. The state of north dakota has a severance tax of eight or nine percent. Theyre exploding. They cant even find enough worker s out there. The problem is Oil Companies only pay two dimes of tax, 20 cents, on a 90 barrel of oil. Its not sustainable. And i want us to think about that. What does it all mean . Well, maybe two Business Owners said it best in regard to this program. Kathleen dewey from the mt. Carmel brewery in cincinnati said, these tax cut s mean a lot to us. What means more to us at mt. Carmel Brewery Company is that our government is behind us. And Cindy Woodward of early express in dayton said, the real thing this means to me is it brings hope because we have someone in power who cares about Small Business, who understands that we are the engine that fuels the economy, and i havent felt that way in a while. Look at our tax cut plan, and keep that family sitting around that table in mind as we move forward on this issue. Id like to talk about another job creation program, our plan to improve the infrastructure, our roads, our highway, our bridges. Were within 600 miles of 60 percent of the country. It is an incredible economic advantage when i talk to ceo, i said you want access to the north american market, you want to be in ohio. Weve got the size, the skill, the people, but we got the location. We can move things so quickly through our state because were improving our infrastructure. You know, the fact is when you make things here, you got to be able to move them. But heres the problem. We have significant infrastructure needs. Under the Current System, we fall way short of funding those needs. So we figured out a creative way to leverage one of our great assets, the turnpike. By bonding against the tolls of the ohio turnpike, were going to be able to raise one and a half billion, and when combines with other federal, state, and local funds, we will have 3 billion, 3 billion to fix our roads , our highways, and our bridges. And we will bring some projects that were going to be executed 20 years from now into a six year window. And at the same time we do all of that we estimate that this will create a minimum of 65,000 jobs for people who help to rebuild our state. [applause] folks, jobsohio just went into the market and did a bond deal at four percent money. Members of the legislature, were going to debate all these different things, lets try to move it as quickly as we can. Because we have a window out there, we have a window out there of cheap money. We got to go and get it, and as quickly as we can move it. I know whats going on, i know the debate about wheres all the money going to be. You know, we work through all this to make sure you get what you expect, and well Work Together and well get it done, and well capture some of that really good money to help put people to work and make ohio an Even Stronger state. You know, in the 21st century when we have job opportunities, we need to make sure that we have the skills to take advantage of them and nothings more important than our k12 Education System. Were going to reflect on the School Reforms that weve achieved before we get into the details of what were doing next. We enacted third grade reading guarantee. I really want to thank you all for that. Look, in my opinion, you cant have a kid that cant read, a student that cant read at the third grade level pushed to the fourth grade. You just cant do it. Okay. Now, its not good enough just go test them. You got to start early. You got to make sure that they have the skills starting, you know, prek, kindergarten, first, second, third grade. We will intervene and we will help to make sure these children can pass, can really have good quality. Because, you know, in the early years, when you go to school, a young child learns to read so that later in their lives they can read to learn. And the studies indicate that if a child does not have good reading skills by the tenth grade, going to drop out. Its like going to a country and not speaking the language. Thank you for what you did on this. We also have created the a through f report card, and also a building bybuilding comparison. So, look, not only do moms and dads know how their schools doing, but also inside the school, School Boards, teachers, administrators. We can figure out where were strong and where were weak, and then get about trying to fix it. Thats why we need this a through f. And i want to thank the legislature for giving it to us. And we delayed it for a year because i thought your request was reasonable, and so were going to move forward with this program, and were going to monitor it, and i want to thank you for what you have done there. Weve also, of course, expanded School Choice for parents with children in failing schools. And in our new budget, we have proposed expanding School Choice for kindergartners who live in poverty. It is an expansion, this program, and were excited about it. [applause] we know about education. You got to have it. It unlocks your future. You dont have it, its not going to work. Youre going to fall behind. And you think about geds and thats great, weve got to take care of that problem, but weve got to have good education. We have proposed a plan i want to be clear about this, and i will put this out so you can read it we have proposed a plan to help every boy and girl, regardless of where they live. Our plan provides a total of 1. 2 billion in new funds over the next two years. That means that by the end of the next budget cycle, ohio will actually be providing our k12 system more in state aid than they received at the height of the onetime federal stimulus money in 2011. That is an unbelievable amount of money according to anybodys calculation. [applause] when it comes to School Funding, we have one common sense guiding principal ohio must help those schools that do not have the resources to help themselves. Schools that are poor, or schools that have growing student enrollment, they need more help than those who are getting richer, or those that are getting smaller in terms of student population. Every school deserves help to meet the individual needs of its students, because on top of the basic formula we know that weve got to help schools who have children who are disabled, students who are poor, students who are learning to speak english, students who are gifted, or students who have limited access to Early Childhood programs. This School Funding plan does all of this. Under our plan, ohios poorest and urban districts get more money than ohios wealthiest districts. They get a bigger share of overall School Funding than the wealthiest districts. They also get more per pupil before funding guarantees are factored in. Additionally, the poorest schools in ohio receive 1. 1 billion while the wealthiest receive less than half of that. The very poorest district will receive 7,500 per pupil 7,500 per pupil in the very poorest districtand the wealthiest will receive 110. Its an objective plan that applies equally to all districts based on their property tax wealth and residents income, as well as the individual characteristics of the students they serve. And most important, this is driven by the needs of students, not by the needs of adults. [applause] this is driven by the needs of students, not by the needs of adults. The simple fact of the matter is now, this plan also guarantees that no School District will receive less state formula funding than they did last year. No one receives less, even if they have fewer students or growing wealth. You see, we would believe it would be destabilizing for schools to suddenly allocate funds strictly by the formula where all dollars follow the student. And districts only receive funding for the students they are teaching. Were not moving on this now, but were in a period of transition, and over time, ohio must begin to look at this guaranteed funding to find a way forward that delivers resources in the way that helps our boys and girls the most. The simple fact of the matter workre going to have to together to make sure that we are moving our resources to those districts that have unique students, that are not as wealthy those districts that do not have the population weve got to do it together, because the Current System is not serving the boys and girls in our state as effectively as we could be doing it, but were going to have to do it together. Also critically important, were giving a significant increase to Vocational Education. [applause] and somewhere jim rhodes is smiling. You know, he came up with the whole idea of Vocational Education and somehow we got away from it. Were going to give a 16 percent increase to Vocational Education. And we know this lo