In his fifth State of the State address, Governor Carcieri last night painted a picture of a Rhode Island that has "honest, ethical and open" government, is "seen as a center of finance" and also as a "national leader in high-quality, affordable health care."

As he sees Rhode Island today, the median $61,000 family income is 11th highest in the nation and the state is making great strides in education, as measured by standardized test scores, especially in urban districts.

Governor Carcieri pauses outside the House chamber as he’s introduced for his State of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly. At left is Sen. Leo Blais, R-Coventry; at right, House Minority Leader Robert Watson, R-East Greenwich.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

On the day before he unveils his budget proposal to lawmakers, Carcieri took the occasion to sketch some of his big-picture ideas, including the creation of a Rhode Island Power Authority to marshal, manage and sell low-cost energy from newly developed sources, such as wind and hydropower.

The ideas in the speech ranged from the locally focused to those with impact across state lines. He proposed a partnership between the University of Rhode Island and the Central Falls school district; suggested forming a statewide water authority from the various smaller authorities that now exist, as well as to "begin to responsibly tap" the Big River Management Area; and announced that Rhode Island will join eight other states in signing the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Carcieri proposed an $85-million bond question next year to pay for cleanup efforts in Narragansett Bay -- the "largest environmental bond" in state history -- and suggested spending $70 million on improvements to roads and bridges.

He did not spell out how he would pay for most of this, but details will come soon enough. The governor was scheduled to present his budget to the General Assembly this afternoon.

"Balancing this budget has required sacrifices everywhere," Carcieri warned. "We must further reform our entitlements, demand more cost-effective services from our vendors, develop new service models and reduce our personnel costs. In short, we must reduce our spending."

Last night, however, was not about the budget. The Republican governor got to talk, uninterrupted, about his education agenda. Among his goals: consolidating school purchasing among districts, "a predictable and fair funding formula that is equitable to both urban and suburban communities," and convincing the Assembly to lift its moratorium on new charter schools. And, Carcieri said, "I would even consider a statewide teacher contract."

The theme of cooperation has figured heavily in Carcieri's rhetoric of late, and last night he proposed creating "Rhode Island's 21st Century Education Plan," a panel led by himself, House Speaker William J. Murphy and Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano, and with membership from the General Assembly, teachers and school administrators, municipal officials, school boards, organized labor, parents and the business community.

Carcieri suggested broad areas the panel would examine -- school financing, teacher quality and urban education -- and offered a cornucopia of ideas for how he personally would change things. For instance: He favors the immersion model for students who aren't native English speakers. He would consolidate school districts. And he would work with organized labor to devise a way of rewarding teachers for performance, rather than seniority alone.

Montalbano said the governor laid out "a good framework."

"He has a nice vision, a theme of working together and that's what I appreciate the most," Montalbano, D-North Providence, said. "I think it's time now to put the politics aside and that's what he's attempting to do and we're going to join in with him."

House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox lauded Carcieri's focus on "education, education, education."

"I think we're sounding the same themes, which is a good thing," Fox, D-Providence, said during the Democratic response to Carcieri's speech. But, Fox added, "the devil's going to be in the details."

For instance, Fox questioned how the state could afford the Bay cleanup bond. "Every initiative for bonding is basically putting off to another day the payment for that spending," he said. "Not that the initiatives are not worthwhile. Who does not want a clean Bay? But $85 million, and how you pay for that over the long-term, is something I think we have to look at."

Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Paiva Weed echoed his concerns: "When we are talking about eliminating health care for children&hellipwe need to recognize that saving pennies in today's budget, in the outyears is going to cost us more."

Kate Brewster, executive director of the Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College, who watched the speech from the House gallery, said afterward: "This is not a State of the State, but a state of denial. There was no mention of thousands of working families who are struggling with stagnant wages and skyrocketing costs of living."

In a move that delighted environmental advocates, Carcieri announced he will sign on to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a pledge among member states to cut carbon-dioxide emissions by 10 percent by 2019.

Rhode Island participated in crafting the pact, which covers nine states in the northeast. However, Governor Carcieri declined to sign it last year, citing concerns that it would raise energy prices here. Then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney also declined to sign it, but the state's new governor, Deval Patrick, signed the agreement last week, leaving Rhode Island the only holdout.

Carcieri's explanation last night of his change of heart: "While I am still concerned about how this agreement will impact the cost of energy here in Rhode Island, I have been assured that those costs can be offset by credits we will receive from other states."

Environment Rhode Island spokesman Matt Auten hailed the decision as "a huge victory for the environment." He said it would have "national and international significance" because full participation in the agreement would give it more clout as the federal government looks for models to develop its own laws and standards on carbon-dioxide emissions.

But the primary focus last night was education. "I want Rhode Island to be the Education State," Carcieri said.

The idea for an "urban academy" at Central Falls High School came from that city's interim schools superintendent, William Holland, the governor's office said last night.

Holland and the governor's office said the details of the partnership haven't been nailed down, but it could include URI professors helping to train Central Falls teachers, and URI professors teaching and tutoring Central Falls students. Holland said he also hopes to benefit from the university's fundraising expertise in raising money for the schools' capital needs, such as technology improvements.

Holland said he came up with the idea after observing similar partnerships in Worcester and Chelsea, Mass., schools. He said the Board of Trustees that currently runs the school system will likely remain in place, with the involvement of URI and state education officials. The Board of Regents for Elementary and Secondary Education must still approve the partnership.

The Democratic Assembly leadership was cool to Carcieri's call for lifting the moratorium on the opening of new charter schools that receive public funds but select the students they admit. "What do you do with the other students who may not have the benefit of charter school education?" Fox asked.

Gary S. Sasse, executive director of the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, said "the governor laid out an ambitious agenda" and what he was particularly "pleased about was his focus on education."

"But the real issue on education," Sasse said, "is whether people want to seriously work on developing a predictable aid formula. It's something that I hope can be passed this year."

The governor's address also brought out, earlier in the day, a group of protesters who feared cuts in state services for people with HIV and AIDS. They suggested that the state instead bring back the sales tax on aircraft, which it repealed in 2004. The change cost the state $833,000 in revenue that year, but the measure's backers argued that the state would gain jobs and payroll taxes as more planes were built, stored and serviced in Rhode Island, rather than out of state.

The protesters argued that the state could easily generate $1 million by bringing the tax back. "If you have to pay to register your car, why shouldn't you have to pay to register your airplane?" asked Donna Williams, director of advocacy for Sojourner House and a member of the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project.

smayerow@projo.com