ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday is expected to announce plans to boost math instruction in her State of the State policy speech through guidance for school districts and increased professional learning opportunities for teachers.

The Democrat’s 2026 legislative agenda also will address literacy, with a proposal to provide targeted resources to the state’s highest-need districts to help improve reading efficiency and allow teachers to access microcredentials in the science of reading at state and city universities at no cost, according to the agenda provided exclusively to Newsday ahead of the speech.

“My dream is for New York students to be the absolute best in the country academically — that’s why we’re making record investments in evidence-based learning models to get our kids up to speed in math and literacy,” Hochul said in an emailed statement. “With these proposals, New York parents can rest assured that there is no better place for their children to learn and grow than here in our state.”

Hochul’s Tuesday afternoon speech will lay out her legislative agenda for the year and is expected to focus largely on affordability — a rallying cry for both Democrats and Republicans heading into an election year. All 213 seats in the State Legislature are up for election.

WHAT NEWSDAY FOUNDGov. Kathy Hochul on Tuesday is expected to announce plans to boost math instruction in her State of the State policy speech through guidance for school districts and increased professional learning opportunities for teachers.The Democrat’s 2026 legislative agenda also will address literacy, with a proposal to provide targeted resources to the state’s highest-need districts to help improve reading efficiency and allow teachers to access microcredentials in the science of reading.Hochul’s Tuesday afternoon speech will lay out her legislative agenda for the year and is expected to focus largely on affordability — a rallying cry for both Democrats and Republicans heading into an election year. All 213 seats in the legislature are up for election.

Hochul, who also is facing reelection, already has released plans to make child care more affordable, increase access to universal pre-kindergarten, lower auto insurance rates and eliminate the state tax on tips up to $25,000 a year.

She also has called for increasing social media and artificial intelligence protections for children, investing in peer-to-peer mental health training for teens, and preventing the building of homemade “3D guns.”

Details on how Hochul plans to pay for her agenda and address a $4.2 billion budget gap for fiscal 2027, which begins April 1, will be released in her budget proposal next week.

Democrats, who hold a majority in the State Senate and Assembly, also are calling for addressing affordability, with child care and utility costs as top priorities. Hochul and legislative leaders have said they plan to push back on policies coming out of Washington, such as by boosting protections for immigrant communities facing federal deportation efforts under the Trump administration.

Republicans in the Senate and Assembly also are pushing policies to make the state more affordable but say state spending should be kept at bay.

Sen. Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick (R-Malverne), said at a Republican news conference Monday that Democrats created the affordability problem by raising taxes and adding business mandates, which drive up the cost of living, and that Republicans have been ahead on solutions, “Families and small businesses don’t need more mandates or higher taxes, they need a different approach that taxes less, regulates less, and puts affordability back within reach,” she said.

Hochul’s legislative agenda will include a “Back to Basics” math plan, requiring the state Education Department to provide instructional best practices to districts along with guidance and resources to assist teachers in selecting and implementing math curricula that aligns with the state’s standards. In New York, standards are set at the state level and the curriculum — how the information is taught — is decided at the local level.

Hochul also is calling for the state and city university systems to create microcredentials in evidence-based math instruction to support teachers.

The governor also plans to send targeted resources to the state’s highest-need districts that are lagging in the “science of reading” and create a three-year pilot program starting with Rochester and Yonkers. The districts would be partnered with a state college or university educator preparation program to provide in-service professional learning aligned with evidence-based reading instruction.

The plan builds on Hochul’s “Back to Basics” reading agenda from 2024, which focused on using evidence-based literacy instruction, including the use of phonics, to increase reading efficiency. Under the plan, the state boosted teacher training, required the education department to provide best practices for teaching reading to students in pre-kindergarten through grade three and required districts to ensure their curriculum, instructional strategies and teacher development aligned with evidenced-based practices.

Newsday’s Yancey Roy contributed to this story.