Weekly News - August 28, 2017
Budget Update
Last week, the House Democrats proposed yet another budget (it may actually be the 15th one this year). They saw the Governor’s Municipal and Educational Cost Sharing grant cuts, which were awful enough to start talking about revenue. Their proposal increases revenue by $2.1 over two years through a half percent increases in the sales tax and other fees.
With that additional revenue, the House Democrats propose to reduce the cuts to towns and schools from the Governor’s roughly $1 billion down to a much more bearable $122 million.
A Republican response is expected soon and it is still to be seen if we are any closer to a majority for any budget.
Here’s the Good News and Bad News for Early Childhood in the House Democrats 8/23/17 budget.
First the Good News:
- Does not move OEC to SDE
- Does not move Birth to Three to DSS
- Funds Care 4 Kids at $124,981,059 in FY 18.
- Funds Birth to Three at $24,686,804
- Funds Even Start at $350,000
- Funds 2-Gen at $250,000
- Maintains funding for School Readiness and State Funded Centers
Then the Bad News
- Care4kids is only funded at $109,530,084 (-$15.4 Million) in the second year of the biannual budget (FY19)
- Does not appear to provide the remaining funding for Birth to Three in the DSS budget
- Does not include the funding for Help Me Grow
- Does not restore funding for Community Plans
To recap, if passed, this budget would allow Care4Kids to enroll some people off of the waiting list. Multiple media outlets have reported a session the week of September 11 for a budget vote.
Weekly News - August 21, 2017
25% Fewer Children Receiving Care4Kids
Care4Kids was highlights in a recent article by Nate Lynch at the New London Day. His article featured interviews with child care providers in Southeastern CT, families that utilize Care4Kids, and our Executive Director, Merrill Gay. The article can be found HERE.
Don't forget - the Alliance is hosting a discussion on Care4Kids on the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving's Early Childhood Collaborative website. To find our discussion, click HERE. You will need a free account to comment.
Weekly News - August 14, 2017
Budget Update
Despite no budget, the state will continue to fund Smart Start classrooms, to the tune of $3.3 million, to fund 45 classrooms that enroll 665 children, mostly from low-income households. CT Mirror has MORE.
We need to continue to push for new revenue, because cuts alone would be devastating. If you haven't spoken to your legislators recently, do it now. Don't assume your neighbor is doing it - legislators need to hear from all of us. We know for a fact that they're hearing a lot from the "no new taxes" folks and not hearing nearly enough from us. Tell them you support increased revenue, whether it's the income tax, sugar tax, tolls, an increase to the cigarette tax. We CANNOT make cuts only. There has to be a balance and this budget has to be fair and moral.