State budget cuts services to families

Services for children and families took a big hit in California’s budget—despite activism by people who care about children. The state’s $23 billion shortfall was mostly closed with $16 billion in cuts. The governor also used the line-item veto to cut an additional $500 million (legislators are protesting these cuts). He called on First 5 to fill the gap—and First 5 promised to help with funding. The budget will:

CalWORKs (effective 2011)

• Limit adults to 48 months of cash assistance in any 60-month period
• Require “self-sufficiency reviews” for adults without enough welfare-to-work activity hours. Cash assistance would be cut in half if adults didn’t attend without good cause.
• Cut children’s grants up to 50% if adults do not meet work requirements
• Count the time during which an adult is sanctioned toward the 60-month lifetime limit.

Additional CalWORKs changes

• End COLAs for CalWORKs grants starting 2010-11
• Cut $375 million from county funding
• Exempt primary caregivers of young children from work requirements until July 2011
• Stop the 60-month time clock when an adult has been excused from participation until July 2011

Health

• Cut $323 million from Medi-Cal—plus $60 million from county funds
• Cut $174 million from Healthy Families. Healthy Families stopped enrolling children in July and will have to drop children without alternative funding. If this happens, Health Access predicts the number of uninsured California children would double.
• Cut $234 million from Department of Developmental Services programs, including regional centers for people with developmental disabilities ($100 million was cut in Feb and $50 million more was cut from young children’s services in line-item vetoes)
• Cut state funds for several community clinic programs and also Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health programs; eliminate state funds for the Immunization Program and the Black Infant Health Program.
• Create a plan to centralize (and likely privatize) eligibility and enrollment for Medi-Cal, food stamps, and CalWORKs.

Child care and development

• Eliminate the school-age community child care program (latchkey)
• Increase Community Care Licensing fees by 10%.
• Train former CalWORKs recipients as child care teachers ($4 million)
• Train license-exempt child care providers ($2.5 million)

Child welfare

• Cut some foster care provider rates by 10%
• Cut $80 million from child welfare services.

Schools

• Fund K-14 spending at the minimum Prop-98 level ($1.4 billion less for 2008-09 and $4.5 billion less for 2009-10 compared with Feb budget levels)—but eventually restore 2008-09 reductions
• Count $402 million from funds for districts with the lowest academic achievement levels toward Prop 98 funding
• Allow districts to reduce the school year by up to five days through 2012-13
• Allow districts to sell surplus property to pay for General Fund purposes through 2011.

Sources: California Budget Project, Child Care Law Center, Child Development Policy Institute, Health Access

State budget update

Where are We? Where are We Going?, from the California Budget Project, summarizes the Governor's recent proposals for closing the state budget gap. Proposed cuts include:

• Eliminating Healthy Families (which provides low-cost state health insurance for children)
• Cutting $1 billion from Medi-Cal -- which could include cuts to eligibility, benefits, and provider paymentsLimiting Medi-Cal for certain immigrants to emergency services
• Eliminating CalWORKs (support for poor families) and CalWORKs child care assistance
• Cutting funds for schools (spending per pupil would drop to $6918 from $8257)

Advocates are taking action and protesting the proposed cuts. For more information, contact:

• California Partnership, 213-385-8010
• Health Access, 213-413-3587 or 510-873-8787, also has a budget factsheet
• Western Center on Law and Poverty, 213-487-7211 or 707-373-4572

California Budget Gridlock: Grandma Tells the Story

A Children's Advocate comic book

Now available!

Grandma talks with her grandson, Tony, about the state budget crisis, including

• how the budget crisis started
• its continuing negative effects on services for children and families
• some ideas for creating change.

In an easy-to-read, accessible, comic book format.

Download the pdf
Spanish pdf version
Chinese pdf version (download each page separately)

March-April Children's Advocate

Check out our latest Children's Advocate issue -- now available and online in English, Spanish, and Chinese! In this issue:

• Grassroots snapshot: Fresno families push for healthy food and safer streets
• Hot topic: “The very last thing that should be cut!”
• Early care and education--Learning through play: “Forget about the facts and remember the wonder”
• Raising kids: “I don’t want my daughter to feel like she has to sacrifice something”
• Hot topic: “I need money for my family”
• News from the California Child Development CORPS: “We’re in the trenches”
• News from Parent Voices: “We wanted to be someone to be reckoned with”
• Bookbasket: Beyond sugar and spice, snakes and snails

In English at http://www.4children.org/issues/2009/march_april/
(for Spanish or Chinese, click on the link at the top of that page)

State budget update

Governor Signs Budget Plan, from the California Budget Project, reports on the Feb 20th spending bill signed by the governor, which includes tax cuts, new revenues, and steep spending cuts to state programs.

May 19 special election: As part of the budget process, the legislature put several propositions on the ballot, including:

• Prop 1A, which would establish a state spending cap
• Prop 1B, which would send more funds to school districts and community colleges
• Prop 1C, which would authorize the sale of $5 billion in bonds backed by lottery proceeds
• Props 1D and 1E, which would divert funds from First 5 (Prop 10) and mental health (Prop 63) to fund existing state programs.

(Stay tuned for our coverage of the ballot measures in the May-June Children's Advocate!)

The budget and the recession

The California Budget Project has produced a report called Budget Cuts or Tax Increases: Which Are Preferable during an Economic Downturn? (www.cbp.org/pdfs/2008/0807_pp_cutsortaxes.pdf).

According to CBP Executive Director Jean Ross, “If you look at the overwhelming body of economic research, it tells you that cutting spending is absolutely the worst thing you can do in a down economy. Why? Because public dollars that go out through state budgets, county budgets, school district budgets...immediately recycle through local economies.”

Read more news like this in the Jan-Feb Children's Advocate's Roundtable report, http://www.4children.org/issues/2009/
january_february/childrens_advocate_roundtable/ (for Spanish or Chinese, click on the link at the top of the page)

Governor's budget: Deep cuts proposed for children's programs

Governor Releases 2009-10 Budget Proposals, from the California Budget Project, reports on the governor's proposed budget. The governor plans to close the predicted $39 billion budget shortfall (which includes last year's budget shortfall) by cutting spending ($17 billion), raising revenues ($14 billion), and borrowing ($10 billion). The governor proposes to:

Revenues

• Temporarily increase the sales tax by 1.5% and charge sales tax on some services, such as car repair, amusement parks, and sporting events
• Reduce the tax credit claimed for children and other dependents
• Impose a 9.9% oil severance tax
• Increase alcoholic beverage taxes by a nickel a drink

Changes to First 5 and Prop 63 funds (would require voter approval)

• Eliminate the First 5 California Commission and redirect state funds and 50% of county funds to children's programs under the Department of Social Services
• Divert Prop 63 mental health funds to reduce state's costs for mental health managed care

Health

• Eliminate Medi-Cal dental and other benefits for adults
• Restrict Medi-Cal eligibility for low-income adults with children, keeping an estimated 429,000 low-income parents off of Medi-Cal
• Reduce health services provided to some legal immigrants
• Restrict access to health care services for undocumented immigrants
• Eliminate the California Food Assistance Program, which provides food assistance for some legal immigrants who are not eligible for federal food stamps
• Cut funding for Regional Centers, which coordinate services for people with developmental disabilities

CalWORKs

• Suspend the July cost-of-living increase
• Cut CalWORKs grants by 10%
• Eliminate cash assistance
  --> for children in CalWORKs "safety net" program if their parents don't work enough hours.
  --> after 60 months for some children whose caregivers are ineligible for CalWORKs
  --> for some CalWORKs families if an adult fails to attend a "self-sufficiency review"

Early care and education

• Increase child care fees for families up to a maximum of 10% of their income
• Reduce reimbursement rates for providers in voucher-based programs
• Suspend the 2009-10 cost-of-living increase

Schools

• Reduce Prop 98 funds to the minimum required
• Reduce "revenue limit funding" for districts and county offices of education as well as funds for a number of educational programs
• Use some public transit funds to pay for transporting kids to and from school
• Eliminate cost-of-living increases for K-12 educational programs
• Allow districts to cut the school year by five days
• Eliminate the High Priority Schools Grant Program
• Suspend almost all education mandates

For more info

• Summary of cuts to schools, health, and human services from the California Budget Project
• More on child care from the Child Care Law Center
• More on health from Health Access (scroll down to Dec 31)
• More on poverty and CalWORKs from the California Partnership
• More on schools from Parents and Students for Great Schools
  

Proposed mid-year budget cuts

The worsening economy has led to a sharp decline in state revenues -- creating a $11 billion shortfall in the budget that was just passed. The governor has called a special session of the legislature to address this gap. He is proposing more cuts and some new revenues -- including a temporary increase in the sale tax and a tax on oil extraction -- to close the gap. Proposed cuts include:

Health
* Restricting eligibility requirements for working parents with Medi-Cal
* Reducing health care benefits to legal immigrants (from full-scope to emergency-only)
* Eliminating several Medi-Cal benefits, including dental and vision care
* Imposing monthly eligibility requirements for undocumented immigrants to get emergency care
* Increasing the amount that low-income seniors and blind and disabled people pay for Medi-Cal
* Reduce public hospital funding

Poverty
* Reducing CalWORKs grants by 10% (the maximum grant for a family of three would go from $723 to $651 a month)
* Changing time limit and work requirement rules, which would eliminate aid to tens of thousands of children
* Eliminating state-funded food stamps for legal immigrants (CFAP)

Schools
* Reducing Prop 98 funding by $2.5 billion

Child care
* Reducing child care benefits for working and CalWORKs families

For more information, contact: Health Access, Latino Coalition for a Healthy California, Western Center for Law and Policy

New campaigns offer ways to get active

Our Children, Our Duty, Our Future

Our Children, Our Duty, Our Future, a new campaign spearheaded by the Children's Advocates Roundtable, aims to educate policy makers and the general public about how cuts in health care, foster care, education, child care, and welfare would hurt children. They're encouraging parents and people who work with children and families to share their personal experiences in letters to their state legislators and visits to their district offices. The website includes resources to help people take action for kids.
For info: Contact Lisa Kaplan, kaplan4kids@yahoo.com

Together for California's Future

Together for California's Future (T4CF) -- a broad new coalition formed by organizations of parents, teachers, health care advocates, school employees, seniors, firefighters, law enforcement officers, environmentalists, people with disabilities, caregivers, and working families -- is working to oppose proposed budget cuts of "billions from the vital services that California's families rely on every day." The new coalition wants to "change the conversation,"
says Central Valley regional coordinator John Boisa and reject a "cuts-only" strategy for balancing the budget. They are encouraging people to

• Get the facts about the impacts the cuts would have in your county from the California Budget Project at www.cbp.org/Impactbycounty.htm
• Write letters to the editor and op-ed articles in your local papers
• Visit legislators in your district—and recruit local business, religious, professional, and other leaders to contact legislators too
• Get involved in local events the coalition is planning. In June, for example, local groups held events at schools and clinics, press conferences, and town hall discussions of the local effects of budget cuts.

For info: contact Shawnda Westly, Shawnda@togetherforca.org, or Kim McCoy Wade, Kim@togetherforca.org

Health Care for America Now

Health Care for America Now is a national campaign bringing people together to demand quality, affordable health care for everyone. Supporters include national and community-based activist organizations, labor, health professionals, and faith-based organizations. The California campaign will continue to press for state-based health reform.
For info: contact Health Access

Children's Advocate March-April issue

The Children's Advocate March-April 2008 issue is now available -- and online -- in English and Spanish. This issue includes articles about grassroots activism -- and efforts to push for a fair budget -- along with a package of articles for families and early care and education staff about helping kids learn to control their impulses. Check it out:

• Moms' walking group leads push for a walkable neighborhood


• Pushing for a fair budget: Parents and advocates mobilize to fight the proposed
  state budget cuts


• Kids with attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity can learn to control
  their impulses -- but they need special support


• After-school programs are multiplying because of funding from Prop 49. How
  can parents make sure their children benefit?


• Parents and parent educators offer tips for helping children learn to control
  their impulses


• Children's books on keeping impulses in check


• News from the California Child Development CORPS: The Corps mobilizes to
  fight proposed budget cuts


• News from Parent Voices: Spreading the word about tax credits


• News from the Children's Advocates Roundtable

In English at http://www.4children.org/current.htm
In Spanish at http://www.4children.org/current.htm#esp
And Chinese coming soon!

Budget action

California still doesn't have a 2007-08 budget, which means some early care and education programs aren't getting the funds they need to stay open. Senate Republicans refuse to vote for the current budget unless it includes $1 billion in additional cuts.

The California Child Development Administrators Association is calling on advocates to contact Republicans about the impact of the budget delay on child care programs, staff, parents, and children -- and to urge them to vote yes on the Assembly budget. For more information, contact CCDAA, 800-835-3083, or see California State Budget Delay and Mass-Layoff Law