As we all know, state legislation often affects Americans’ daily lives much more than federal legislation. The key issues that impact us are state-level issues –- e.g., crime and education -- and the specific nature of that impact on our daily lives –- e.g., whether it is a progressive or regressive one –- depends on which political party controls the legislature. One area where we clearly see a difference is in the area of the educational curriculum.

I often use this blog to document nationwide trends and patterns, but today, I would like to take an opportunity to point out some bills that are remarkable because of their uniqueness.

Promoting language study in Washington State

A provocative 2007 story in Stateline conveys the urgency in making sure American students can compete globally.

Last year, the Democratically controlled legislature introduced HB 1517. The bill has 2 key components: (1) it requires the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to assign a full-time staff to serve as world language supervisor and describes the supervisor's duties and (2) subject to funding, it directs the OSPI to allocate grants for pilot projects to enhance world language instruction in elementary and middle schools.

This year, a key foreign-languages bill was HB 2523, which would create the position of world language supervisor in the office of the superintendent of public instruction.

Teaching labor history in Wisconsin

In a political culture where students know more about Hollywood celebrities and sports figures than they do about Samuel Gompers or Howard Zinn, Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate tried to improve students’ historical literacy.

In Wisconsin, SB 108 would require every school district in Wisconsin to teach labor history. This 2007 labor bill passed 19-14 in the Democratic Senate and died in the Republican Assembly. This unique and important bill required that every school board’s instructional program in state, national, and world history include information on the history of organized labor in America and the collective bargaining process.

*For more information – including foreign-language requirements for high-school graduation – check out the state reports on the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages.

Indiana Speaker of the House and DLCC Board Member Pat Bauer met with leaders from the University of Indiana to announce the completion of a 1,178 miles of fiber-optic cable that forms the backbone of the network connecting more than 40 of the state's public and private universities.

The network will provide campus users with Internet connections up to 20 times faster than what they can access in their homes -- allowing researchers to access massive data collections and collaborate with professors from other schools.

The network also will vastly improve distance learning programs by enabling high-quality video streaming and high-definition learning tools like telepresence, a videoconferencing technology that gives users the impression of being in the classroom.

The state also believes that this kind of technological infrastructure will help encourage the opening of new business and the creation of new jobs.

All of which makes this a pretty good investment for $13 million.

In New Jersey, three bills designed to promote the use of wind and solar energy unanimously passed the Senate Economic Growth Committee and will soon go to the full Senate for consideration.

This year, nearly 50 million students will be enrolled in the nation's public schools according to the Washington Post. That sets a record, which is only expected to continue increasing.

As more soldiers come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, lawmakers in Maryland are working to ensure that veterans in that state have access to the care they need to return to civilian life. The Veterans Behavioral Health Bill passed both houses without a single vote against it.

A spending bill passed by the California legislature last year now allows the California Air Resources Board to offer taxpayers a $1,000 rebate for the purchase of an electric car.

Across the country, the costs of higher education have been on the rise for years, and nationally, experts expect that trend to continue in 2008.

In fact, the College Board estimates that tuition at the nation’s four-year public universities will increase by an average of 6.6 percent this year.

One state which won’t ask students to pay more, however, is Maryland.

This session, the state’s legislators increased public higher-education funding by 9.7 percent, which gave the schools enough budget flexibility to offer attendees a break.