CALIFORNIA CHILDREN AND

THE STATE BUDGET

January 2015

Michele Stillwell-Parvensky

msp@childrensdefense.org

Senior Policy Associate

Children’s Defense Fund – California

California has the highest child poverty rate in the nation

More than 1 in 3 Black and Latino children are poor

Children under age 6 are the poorest age group

Governor’s 2015-16 Budget

Proposal

Revenues $4.1 billion higher than anticipated

Continues to emphasizes debt repayment and

building the rainy day fund

Major investment in K-12 education, as

required under Prop. 98

Prioritizes fiscal austerity over investing in the

safety net or public services

A flat-line, status quo budget

K-12 Education

Prop. 98 spending increase of $7.8 billion

$4 billion to continue implementation of Local Control Funding Formula

$1.1 billion in one-time funding to implement Common Core

Eliminates $897 million in debt owed to schools

Allocates $320 million from Prop. 39 revenues for energy efficiency grants to school districts

$273 million in one-time funding for emergency facility repairs

$100 million in one-time funding for Internet connectivity

Provides recommendations for overhauling the state school bond system for funding school facilities

Local Control Funding Formula

(LCFF)

Source: California Teachers

Association

Creates a more rational and equitable school finance system

Provides more funds for students with greater needs (low-income students, English learners and foster youth)

Increases local control, giving school districts more options on how to best use funds

Career Training & Adult Education

Provides $250 million in Proposition 98

funding annually for 3 years for the Career

Technical Education Incentive Grant Program

Provides $500 million in Proposition 98

funding for a new block grant to support adult

education

Community Colleges

Proposes $200 million to improve student

success programs and close achievement

gaps

Pays down $353 million in mandate debt owed

to community colleges

Increases base allocation funding by $125

million to pay for operating expenses

Provides 2% increase ($107 million) for

enrollment growth

Higher Education

Continues a multiyear plan that modestly increases funding for UC and CSU, with the expectation that funding will be used to avoid tuition and fee hikes

Increase of $120 million (4%) each for UC and CSU

Provides a $45 million increase for the Middle Class Scholarship Program

Reflects increase participation in the Cal Grant program with an increase of $267 million

Child Care and Development

Fails to make any major reinvestments in the

child care and development system

Provides a modest COLA for child care and

preschool programs

Funding remains substantially lower than

before the recession, despite a modest

increase included in last year’s budget

agreement

Health Care

Reflects the continued implementation of federal health care reform in California including Medi-Cal expansion ½ of all children are in Medi-Cal

Maintains a 10% cut to payments for many Medi-Cal providers

Continues to redirect funding to the state that was previously used by counties to provide health care to uninsured residents

Suggests that undocumented immigrants who benefit from Pres. Obama’s recent actions may be eligible for state-funded Medi-Cal

Includes funding for behavioral health treatment services for children with autism in Medi-Cal

New Managed Care Organization (MCO) tax

CalWORKs

CalWORKs provides cash assistance and services to low-income families, 1 million children

Proposes no additional increases for CalWORKs grants

Grants remain below pre-recession levels and fail to lift most families out of deep poverty (50% of the federal poverty line)

Maintains 24-month limit for parents to receive full array of benefits (down from 60 months)

Foster Care & Child Welfare

Continuum of Care Reform (CCR) is a multi-

year effort to improve the child welfare & foster

care system - emphasizes that children belong

in home-like environments, not institutions

Includes $7 million to begin implementing the

CCR recommendations

Investing in foster care recruitment and retention

Increasing social worker capacity to provide

services

Supplemental Security Income

(SSI/SSP)

SSI/SSP helps the families of 118,000 children

with disabilities afford basic necessities

Maintains past cuts to grant levels and fails to

restore the state cost-of-living adjustment

Maximum grant remains at the federal

minimum and below the poverty line

In-Home Supportive Services

IHSS helps low-income seniors and people

with disabilities, including children, live in their

own homes, preventing costly out-of-home

care

Includes a plan to restore a 7% cut to hours of

care ($483 million)

Delays implementation of new federal labor

regulations mandating overtime pay for home

care workers due to federal court ruling

Cap-and-Trade

Includes $1 billion in revenues from cap-and-trade

auctions (up from $870 million in 2014-15)

$250 million for high-speed rail

$200 million for Sustainable Communities Program

(including affordable housing)

$350 million for clean transportation

$110 million for energy efficiency and clean energy

At least 25% of cap-and-trade funds must benefit

disadvantaged communities

What’s Next

Additional Resources

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

www.cdfca.org/endchildpoverty

Thank you!

Michele Stillwell-Parvensky

msp@childrensdefense.org