2018 State of the State Address talks of education, or the lack of it.

Governor Jim Justice offered an optimistic view of West Virginia education at the 2018 State of the State address. The ideas of curing the opioid epidemic, giving teachers across the state raises, and making agriculture programs move into the future were given high hopes for the upcoming year.

“West Virginians were really hurting. And today you’re going to have a hard time to keep from smiling, and smiling an awful lot. The reason you won't be able to not get me to smile today is a lotta, lotta, lotta good news about our state,” said Governor Jim Justice soon after he took the podium.

As Justice began to dive into the answers to the questions that so many residents and college students have been asking, the mood in the room gradually became less tense when it was apparent this year’s State of the State Address might not be the bad news everyone is used to.

The idea of the state’s debt was the first topic that was touched, but only briefly due to the fact that Gov. Justice said the state of West Virginia is doing well. The opioid epidemic, road bond referendum, and audience acknowledgements were made quickly in order to get to the Governor’s “pet peeve” topic of education.

Higher education has changed in the past year with Governor Justice in office. The tuition has been increased twice in twelve months, causing some students to express their worry a little more while fearing there could be another increase.

Justice was proud to announce there would not be any tax increases on education anytime soon.

Ideas of creating flourishing agriculture programs that change West Virginia as most people know it were debated in little detail. The Governor mentions how West Virginia State, Marshall University, and West Virginia University should make it a priority to accentuate programs that will be front runners for new agricultural practices across the country.

“Think about this just for a second. Agriculturally we all know that agriculture could be a sleeping giant in West Virginia. And I know a lot about agriculture, guys and girls. A lot. An awful lot,” said Governor Justice.

After making the comment earlier in the speech acknowledging that President Gilbert’s recent fall and broken humorous and hinting that it affects his ability to run a school, the question of Marshall’s agriculture program stability came into effect. Marshall does not have an agriculture program, making WVU Justice’s preference for praise.

A 13^th-year program for those who want to go into technical or trade concentrations after high school is also an idea being tossed around for students who may want or need additional certification or training after graduation. A hope of making technical and community colleges free for the public in the upcoming years was also mentioned.

In order to participate in higher education, the students have to have their first 12 years of school completed. He spoke about how it is difficult for children to receive an education if the schools are lacking teachers because the teachers had to move elsewhere to make a living. Justice expressed that so many children want to focus on the arts such as drama or music but can’t because those programs were cut. Governor Justice went on to say that will no longer be the case.

“But we now have enough money to give every single person in state government a raise. And I'm really, really proud that we're going to be able to do that. We're going to be able to give our teachers a raise. We're going to give a 1 percent raise across the board to everyone. This year and next year,” said Justice with a smile.

These teachers can receive a raise every year up to the next five years with an average of one percent per year.

Governor Justice spoke on how the Secretary of Education gave him some last minute good news shortly before his speech last night.

“Betsy DeVos called me to tell me that our plan, West Virginia's plan, for every student -- it's called WV's Every Student Succeeds Plan, was passed today,” said Governor Justice.

This plan is an attempt to keep kids in school and give them the help they need to create plans and then accomplish them.

The Governor went into closing his address with visual demonstrations, as he tends to do in these types of gatherings, to inspire the people in the room to continue to have faith in the state of West Virginia. By using his daughter’s basketball team, he closed by having them change their usual huddle cheer of “Best of three, one, two three….best!” to “West Virginia, one, two, three…best!”

The difference between the address given in 2017 as compared to the one given on Wednesday night was easy to spot. The difference was for the first time in years; the main idea of the speech was not struggle, it was hope.