Highlights of Governor Nixon’s
Budget for Children and
Families
Health
Coverage:
Nixon’s first step towards decreasing the 729,000
uninsured in Missouri will invest $231 million into expanding
health coverage to an additional 62,000 Missourians, including
34,000 parents with incomes up to 50% of federal poverty and
27,000 children this year.
Children’s
Health:
Nixon’s plan focuses on reaching out to uninsured children
who are eligible for state coverage, but not enrolled. Funding
for the following children’s health initiatives is being
requested in a supplemental budget request to FY’09, which
means that the changes could be initiated as early as this
spring:
· Eliminate premiums for children in families
with incomes between 150% to 225% FPL and reduce premiums for
families over 225 % FPL to $50 per month.
· Implement continuous eligibility for kids on
SCHIP so parents don’t have to fear loss of coverage if
their family or job situation changes.
· Enhance outreach efforts to make sure
children eligible for coverage are enrolled.
Child Care
Assistance:
· $3.4 million increase to maintain current
eligibility at 127% FPL and transitional assistance up to 139%
FPL, bringing total funding to $167 million.
· The increased funding for child care
eligibility was found by eliminating a $5 million child care
monitoring program that was budgeted in FY’09 but had not
yet been implemented. The monitoring program would have provided
finger-image systems to child care providers to better track
child attendance and subsidy payments.
K-12
Education: Fully
funds the foundation formula for K-12 public education with an
increase of $61.7 million, bringing total funding to $3
billion.
Early Childhood
Education/Intervention:
· $29.7 million increase for Early Childhood
Special Education, for a total of $358.9
million.
· $1.2 million increase ($30.4 million total)
for the First Steps Program for children birth to age 3 with
developmental delays or disabilities.
· Maintains funding for Parents as Teachers at
$34.3 million
Foster
Care: $1.7 million
to increase the foster care clothing and diaper allowance by an
average of $140 per child.
View a summary of the Governor’s legislative
priorities or Nixon’s complete FY 2010 budget
proposal.
House and Senate Appropriations Committees
are already meeting to begin reviewing the Governor’s
budget, and many Republicans have voiced concerns that using
one-time federal stimulus funds to balance this year’s
budget could leave Missouri with an even larger budget deficit
down the road. Yet with the unemployment rate rising to 7.3% in
Missouri, and more and more
families losing health coverage and at risk of falling into
poverty, Missouri must make immediate
investments in healthcare, education and our workforce to ensure
that we pull ourselves out of this economic
recession.
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Children’s Bills of
Interest
An update on legislation relating to
Partnership for Children’s 2009 Policy Agenda:
Quality Rating
System (SB4 &
HB387):
SB 4, sponsored by Senator
Charlie Shields (R-St. Joseph), will be heard in the Senate
Committee on Health, Mental Health, Seniors, and
Families on Tuesday, Feb 3rd at 8:15 am.
The companion legislation in the House, HB 387 sponsored by Rep.
Wayne Cooper (R-Camdenton), has been referred to the Special Committee on Children and Families
but has not yet been scheduled for a
hearing.
QRS is a voluntary 5-star system
that would rate child care programs on quality components like
staff education, annual trainings, learning environment, and
family involvement. The bill also creates a Program Improvement
Grant Fund to provide child care programs with technical
assistance and professional development scholarships to improve
the quality of care, which in turn means that more of our
youngest Missourians will have a solid foundation from which
they can grow, learn, and succeed throughout their lives.
Parental
Rights (HB424
& HJR16):
Representative Cynthia Davis
(R-O’Fallon) has filed two bills this year, subject to
voter approval, that gives parents and legal guardians a
“natural and fundamental right to direct the care,
education, and upbringing of their children.” The
government would not be able to hinder this fundamental right
unless there is “compelling governmental interest.”
The vague language of this legislation
raises concerns over any potential impact on the care and
treatment of abused and neglected children. This bill could be interpreted to limit the ability
of our state's social workers, nurses, domestic violence shelter
staff and teachers from reporting and treating abuse and neglect
without parental notification. This is particularly
damaging if in fact the perpetrator is also the parent or
guardian. HB424 has been referred to the Special Committee on Children and
Families, but a scheduled hearing last Wednesday was
cancelled and has not been
rescheduled.
Child Care
Licensing (HB383): An effort to reform child care licensing
regulations in Missouri by Rep.
Rachel Storch (D-St. Louis) has emerged from a state audit last
year citing loopholes that put children’s safety at risk
as well as the tragic death of an infant at an unlicensed child
care home in Arnold, MO.
Last year, State Auditor Susan Montee found
a home-provider who was licensed to care for 10 children,
actually caring for as many as 18 children by herself. Her
business was still legal because 8 of the children were related
to her, and thus not counted under Missouri
law. Even for providers caring for an illegal number of
children, such as the case in Arnold resulting in an
infant’s death, the state regulatory agency for child care
has no authority to close illegal businesses and providers only
risk being slapped with a $200 fine.
HB 383 would: 1) remove the
exemption for unrelated children in determining child care
licensure; 2) require license-exempt providers to disclose their
exempt status to parents; 3) increase the fine for illegally
operating a child care business to $200/per day with a cap of
$10,000; 4) allow the Department of Health & Senior Services
to close illegally operating unlicensed child care
programs.
Read Susan Montee’s 2008
Audit of Child Care Licensing
>>
7/15/08 - Infant’s Death
Shows Gaps in Child Care Licensing >>
7/15/08 – Lawmaker Seeks
Tougher Day Care Laws >>
Importance of Early Childhood
(HCR15): Sponsored by Rep. Beth Low (D-Kansas City), this resolution states the
importance of early childhood to Missouri’s workforce,
economy, and children’s school readiness and states the
General Assembly’s support for investing in early
childhood programs.
Child Poverty
Council (HCR14):
Also sponsored by Rep. Beth Low
(D-Kansas
City), this resolution
creates a "Missouri Child Poverty Council" to examine child
poverty and make recommendations to the Governor and General
Assembly on methods of improving the financial stability and
well-being of Missouri’s
children.
View PFC’s full tracking list for legislation
relating to children’s health, education, and
safety.
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Over 400 Attend Child Advocacy
Day
Over 400 Missourians rallied at the Capitol
last Tuesday for state investments in children and families at
the 27th Annual Child Advocacy Day, traveling from
across the state through freezing rain, snow, and ice-covered
roads. During the morning and afternoon rallies, advocates heard
from several members of legislative leadership about their
commitment to early childhood education, children’s health
care, and child care for working families, including Senate
President Pro-Tem Charlie Shields, Senate Majority Leader Kevin
Engler, House Speaker Pro-Tem Bryan Pratt, and House Minority
Leader Paul LeVota. Rep. Wayne Cooper also spoke about his
sponsorship of HB387, establishing a voluntary, statewide
Quality Rating System in Missouri.
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-KANSAS
UPDATE-
Thanks to our Partners at Kansas Action for
Children and the KS Coalition for School Readiness for this
update on children’s issues from the Kansas
Statehouse:
Budget
and Early Education. On Monday, January 26th, the Kansas Senate
Ways and Means Committee, the
committee responsible for deciding where our tax dollars are
spent, voted to cut $5.1 million from the 2009 Children’s
Initiative Fund (CIF), money that has already been promised to
children’s programs this year. Early learning
programs across the state have already enrolled children and
families for services based on the Senate’s commitment.
Luckily, an amendment offered
by Sen. Laura Kelly (D-Topeka) and approved by the Senate
restores and protects early learning programs in the Children's
Initiatives Fund (CIF). The Senate approved their version of the
2009 budget last week.
The House Appropriations Committee worked on
its substitute version of the budget on Friday. At this point,
the House's version would cut $3.1 million from the CIF and
reduce each line item in the CIF by 4%. Cuts to the CIF stand to
impact a number of early childhood programs and the
across-the-board cuts would additionally impact services for
children.
Teen
Drivers. Rep.
Lee Tafanelli (R-Ozawkie) introduced HB 2143, a Graduated
Drivers Licensing bill, in the House Transportation committee on
behalf of Kansas Action for Children and our partners. Partners
on this legislation - designed to reduce teen crashes in
Kansas and better prepare
Kansas teens for the lifelong
responsibility of driving - include AAA Kansas, Kansas
Department of Transportation, Kansas Highway Patrol and State
Farm Insurance.
KIDS College Savings
Program. A
bill introduction was requested this week in the House
Appropriations Committee to make permanent the KIDS
College
Savings Program. A bill number has not yet been assigned. The
KIDS Program, which provides an incentive for low-income
Kansas families to save for
their children's college and vo-tech expenses, is up for renewal
this year.
Child Care
Assistance. Although the Governor's Budget did not recommend funding
cuts for Child Care Assistance, it has become a serious concern
in light of the across-the-board cuts proposed by the Senate
this week for most agency budgets. SRS has indicated that the
across-the-board cuts - which come to $11.6 million for the
agency - would likely include a reduction in eligibility for
Child Care Assistance.
