California's Children

The DQ: Yamamura on Prop 30 & county juvvie realignment

November 12, 2011:  "...counties were grateful that Proposition 30 locked in several billion dollars annually to pay for housing inmates and watching parolees previously overseen by the state, as well as a host of social service responsibilities." -- As the Sacramento Bee's Kevin Yamamura reports this morning, Proposition 30, the Governor's tax increase to benefit public education, has funding streams that reach out to other budget-starved state social service needs. 

Or, as the long form on the ballot told us, Proposition 30 "Guarantees funding for public safety services realigned from state to local governments."

One of those services is what Brian Goldstein, in a post in Juvenile Justice Information Exchange in April 2012 called "an ambitious and deep-rooted reform of [California's] corrections system...known as realignment"...

Full juvenile realignment is a historic opportunity to end a failed system, while addressing county-level discrepancies in sentencing and services. California’s 58 counties already manage much of the juvenile system, including total responsibility for supervising probation.

Amid growing acceptance, the conversation around juvenile justice realignment in California stands to enter a new phase. In addition to Gov. Brown, Department of Finance, Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), Little Hoover Commission, and various stakeholders are now publicly calling for empowering counties to assume full responsibility for serving their youthful offenders.

Sacramento understands the exorbitant costs for maintaining a dual juvenile justice system, both in fiscal terms and as detrimental to effective rehabilitation.  Per a recent report from the LAO, the state-run Division of Juvenile Facilities (DJF) spent $179,000 per youth for 2011-2012. Yet this spending does not temper the widespread culture of violence in the facilities, nor does it treat and educate our youth.  As such, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) recently found an 80% re-arrest rate within three years of a youth’s release.  DJF facilities remain in a condition of continued disrepair.  Nevertheless, California is legally bound to spend enormous sums for their replacement and upkeep, as a result of an ongoing lawsuit....

Law-enforcement associations who oppose phased juvenile realignment, likewise resist implementation of  “budget triggers” that require counties to pay for each of their youths in state facilities. Such discussion occurs amid a backdrop of deep financial strain for the state. A failure to reform perpetuates this system of disproportionate sacrifice. Why should juvenile justice enjoy exemption from “budget triggers,” while the state cuts funding to schools, universities, mental health professionals, and child-care providers? If the state fails to enforce financial obligations for youth corrections, then more cuts on education and social services will be necessary to plug these gaps.

 

Fed sequestration cuts published 9/14: CWLA has chart

UPDATE, September 28, 2012: The Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 required the details of automatic cuts to the federal budget scheduled to take place in January 2013, and those details were released last Friday. A story posted today on "Children's Monitor," a blog of the Child Welfare League of America, includes a "sequestration chart, at left,with preliminary estimaes of cuts to selected programs serving vulnerable children and families."

 UPDATE, July 31, 2012: Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, last week released a report titled, "Under Threat: Sequestration's Impacty on Nondefense Jobs and Services."   "Sequestration" refers to the fact that under the Budget Control Act, "most Federal programs face an across-the-board cut in January 2013 if congress does not enact a plan before then to reduce the national debt by $1.2 trillion."

Some numbers from "Under Threat": 96,179 fewer low-income children will be enrolled in Head Start -- in California, 11, 902 children would be cut, as well as 2,480 jobs. From the Child Care and Development Block Grant subsidizing child care for low-income families: California will lose $19 million in the sequester cut, serving 5,172 fewer children; maternal and child health block grant, $3 million sequester cut to California, serving 396,019 fewer women and children; childhood immunization grants, $1.685 million sequester cut to California with 24,655 fewer children receiving vaccinations; family violence prevention and services: California loss $618K with 2,766 fewer people served and 4,974 fewer crisis calls answered; Title I grants to public school districts: California $139.6 million in sequester cuts for 296,172 fewer students served in 506 schools and a loss of 1,920 related jobs. Also impacted will be school improvement grants: $4.8 million sequester cut to California; improving teacher quality grants, $22.7 million in sequester cut, 129 jobs lost, 2,554 students impacted, 23,967 fewer teachers receiving professional development, 474,547 students impacted; 21st Century Community Learning Centers, a program for before- and after-school will see 71 locations in California cut, affecting 37,349 students in a sequester reduction of $9.7 million. Special education, $3.2 million cut to California; special ed for infants to age 2, $4.2 million cut for 2,407 fewer children served; workforce investment (job training for high school dropouts) grants, $8.7 million in sequester cut affecting 2,519 teens. 

Previously reported regarding sequestration's impact:

The California Spending Plan '12-'13 now available on PDF

September 17, 2012: There are still two working weeks for the Governor to sign pending legislation, so the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) warns in its summary -- California Spending Plan -- that this overview of how We the People will disburse $130.7 billion from the General Fund and special funds may be revised; still, it's thorough.

Key to the report is the first condition listed: "Key Budget Estimates Assume Voters Approve Proposition 30" -- the Governor's proposed tax initiative that would raise $8.5 billion in additional revenues across two fiscal years.  There will be, as the LAO report states, additional cutes of $6 billion if Prop 30 is rejected.  

Almost all of the reducations would affect education programs -- $5.4 billion for K-14 education and $500 million for public universities.

The 2012-13 spending plan includes $7.4 billion from the General Fund for social services prorams, an incrase of $688 million, "or about 10%," compared to the revised prior-year spenidng leve, according to the report. 

This net increase largely reflects an 
$804 million funding swap between CalWORKs and CSAC that serves to 
increase General Fund expenditures in CalWORKs by $804 million without 
increasing total expenditures in CalWORKs or overall General Fund 
spending across the budget. If not for the funding swap, there would be a 
net decrease in General Fund expenditures for social services programs in 
2012-13, reflecting a number of policy changes creating General Fund savings, 
mainly in the CalWORKs program.

Budget Subcomm says use fed special ed $ for student med therapy

Recommending that schools pay for student medical programs with federal special education monies, state Sen. Mark De Saulnier, at left, chair of Senate Budget Committee #3, rejected Gov. Brown's proposed cut to the state's Children's Services' Medical Therapy Program (CCS- MTP) last Thursday. Marisa Lagos reported on the story for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Under Browns' proposal, families with annual incomes over $40,000 would no longer be eligible for MTP services unless medical expenses exceed 20% of their income; currently there is no financial eligibility requirement.

From the Subcommittee agenda, May 24, 2012:

If Brown's proposal is approved, an estimated 4,779 children would lose MTP services...it would result in annual savings of $21.9 million ($10.9 million General Fund and $11 million county funds).

Instead it is recommended to use available federal special education funds to cover the costs of providing services to the 14,273 children with Individual Education Programs (IEPs) [under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act] who receive medical therapy.

Currently state and county funds cover the medical therapy services included in the IEP.

A conservative estimate of these costs is $24.6 million ($12.2 million General Fund and $12.4 million county funds).

The subcommittee staff recommendation would require schools to pay for all therapies included in a child’s IEP, including medical, (as required by federal law) and to provide schools with this additional special education funding to cover the increased cost. Under this scenario, the state would continue to require [the clinics] to provide medically necessary therapies, but placeholder language would specify that medically necessary therapies included in an IEP would not be the financial responsibility of the CCS, but would be funded by the schools.

The CCS-MTP provides physical, occupational, and medical therapy to handicapped children with neurological and musculoskeletal disorders, such as cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, head and spinal cord injuries; 24,433 children receive services in 125 mobile outpatient clinics located on school campuses and run by county CCS programs.

Written for California's Children by Elizabeth J Carlyle.

Realignment & timed-out fosters: hearings today on welfare trailer

Today, May 24, Room 112, Capitol Bldg., Sacramento. Agenda available here. Staff contact is Jennifer Troia, 916-319-2089.

The Senate Budget Subcommittee #3, chaired by state Senator Mark DeSaulnier, at left, will discuss the Child Welfare Services Realignment trailer bill language, including giving counties the "option" to implement the THP-Plus Foster Care program, a transitional housing program for "timed out" foster kids, ages 18-21 (See below for background story).