CALIFORNIA CHILDREN AND THE STATE BUDGET

January 2013Michele Stillwell-Parvenskymsp@childrensdefense.orgPolicy AssociateChildren’s Defense Fund – California

Children’s Defense Fund

A non-profit child advocacy organization that has worked relentlessly for nearly 40 years to ensure a level playing field for all children.

www.cdfca.org

Deep Cuts to Children’s Programs Over Past 5 Years

K-12 education: $7 billion

CalWORKs: $4 billion

Medi-Cal: $3.6 billion

Child care: $1 billion

Governor’s 2013-14 Budget Proposal

Balanced budget – revenues and expenditures are roughly in balance

Proposes to increase General Fund spending by 5% to $97.7 billion

Increases for education,baseline for everything else

Focus on fiscal restraint Pays down $4.2 in budget-

related debt Creates a $1 billion reserve

K-12 Education

Proposes a Prop. 98 increase of $2.1 billion (4%)

Pays back $1.8 billion in deferred payments to schools

Proposes $450 million for school energy efficiency projects

Provides $1.6 billion for school districts to create a new K-12 funding formula

Increases K-12 mandate block grant by $100 million to fund Graduation Requirements and Behavioral Intervention Plan programs

Local Control Funding Formula

Similar to the weighted student formula proposed last year to change how schools are funded

Would eliminate the majority of categorical programs and establish a new streamlined funding formula

Formula would provide more money to districts with high proportions of low-income students or English learners

Community Colleges

Provides a base increase of $197 million Pays back $179 million in deferred

payments to community colleges Makes policy change to fund based on

student course completion $300 million for

restructured adult education program

Higher Education

Proposes a multiyear higher ed budget plan to increase GF spending by 4-5% per year over the next 4 years - $250 million increase this year

UC and CSU systems are expected to maintain current tuition and fee levels

California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs)

CalWORKs provides cash assistance and services to low-income families, 1.1 million children

No new proposed cuts in 2013-14 budget Maintains cuts made in previous years

Reducing time limit for parents to receive benefits from 60 months to 24 months

Lowering grants by 12% Cutting child care and work assistance funding

Proposed increase of $143 million to support counties’ CalWORKs employment services

Child Care

Child care has been cut significantly since 2008, $1 billion dollars in cuts, eliminating

110,000 slots Reductions to child care provider payments Lower income eligibility for parents

Budget proposal maintains current level of funding, but fails to restore past cuts

Medi-Cal Expansion

Currently, Medi-Cal provides health coverage for the lowest-income Californians, including nearly 4.5 million children

Budget commits to expand Medi-Cal as part of federal health reform

Expansion would provide coverage to adults up to 138% FPL, paid for almost entirely by federal gov

Proposes two options for the expansion Previously, counties provided care for uninsured –

budget assumes state will capture county savings, such as by shifting child care to the counties

1.4 million Californians will be newly eligible for Medi-Cal

Other Medi-Cal Changes

Extends two “provider fees” that draw down federal dollars for a GF savings of $527 million Funds have traditionally supported children’s

health, but budget puts toward the reserve Implements a retroactive cut of up to 10% to

payments to doctors passed in 2011 but slowed up in court – $488 million in GF savings

$350 million placeholder for anticipated increased enrollment in Medi-Cal due to improvements with health care reform

Dept. of Developmental Services

Extends the Annual Family Program Fee, which assesses a fee of $150-$200 to families about 400% FPL - $7.2 million in GF savings

Increase of $40 million GF to backfill one-time support from First 5 for children’s services

Sunsets a 1.25% reduction to regional centers and provider payments

In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS)

IHSS helps low-income seniors and people with disabilities, including children, live safely in their own homes, preventing costly out-of-home care

Many recent cuts to IHSS have not been implemented because of court action

Implements a 20% reduction in hours that has been challenged in court to save $113 million

Makes additional adjustments – net increase of $168 million

What’s Next: Finding the Right Balance

Legislators may push back against the Governor in search of the right balance of fiscal restraint and restoration of severe cuts to critical programs

Revenues???

Restoration of Cuts

Pay Down Debt,

Build Reserve

Thanks to…

California Budget Project www.cbp.org Western Center on Law and Poverty

www.wclp.org Legislative Analyst’s Office

www.lao.ca.gov

Children’s Defense Fund – California

www.cdfca.org

Thank you!

Michele Stillwell-Parvenskymsp@childrensdefense.org