Impact of Appropriation Committee's Proposed FY 2012-13 Budget

CT Voices for Children produced this analysis on the Appropriations budget.

The Appropriations’ proposal would, like the governor’s proposal, maintain or increase funding for most early care and education programs.Family Resource Centers, State Head Start, Head Start Enhancement, Bridgeport’s ABCD Total Learning Initiative, the Parent Trust Fund program, and Improving Early Literacy would remain at FY 11 projected expenditure levels during FY 12 and 13. State-funded child care centers, School Readiness competitive school districts, and the Graustein Memorial Fund’s Discovery communities initiative would all receive increases in funding over FY 11 projected expenditures. As recommended in the governor’s proposal, the increase in funding for state-funded child care centers will allow the state to increase the per-child rate so that it is commensurate with the rate paid to School Readiness programs

Additionally, the Appropriations Committee’s proposed budget would keep School Readiness funding for Priority School Districts at FY 11 levels for both FY 12 and FY 13 (the Governor’s proposal had reduced this funding by 1.4%).

The Appropriations Committee’s proposed budget would also restore funding to the Nurturing Families Network at non-hospital sites through a $3.2 million increase to the Children’s Trust Fund line item, which helps maintain Connecticut’s competiveness for federal funding for home visitation programs.

One concern is that the Appropriations’ proposal, like the governor’s proposal, recommends only $97.6 million for the Care4Kids program in FY 12. This is a $0.8 million less than the projected expenditure for FY 11, and $5.8 million less than the FY 11 appropriation (a 5.6% decrease). Note that the failure to spend the full amount appropriated for FY 11 was because of lack of need, but rather due to the decision of the Department of Social Services (DSS), in November 2010, to limit eligibility for the Care4Kids program.