Final House Budget Slashes Critical Programs for Children April 29, 2011
Greetings!
The House has taken steps towards finalizing a harsh budget that cuts critical programs and services for children by an average of 10%. Many program cuts - like those to pre-K and early education - go even deeper. House leadership's decision to adopt a cuts-only approach, rather than raising some revenue to narrow the gap, threatens North Carolina's most vulnerable children and families. During these difficult economic times, when government programs and services are needed more than ever, the elimination of teachers from the classroom, services for at-risk youth and funding for early education means that the families of children and youth who are already struggling will find even fewer resources at their disposal.
As reported in the mid-week update earlier this week, the House released its overall budget proposal on Tuesday evening. It includes shifts in funding among items within the HHS and Education budgets, but no overall changes in funding in either department. Juvenile Justice is cut about $1 million less in this new version of the budget proposal. Please see the link above for more details.
The House proposal passed the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday and will be voted on by the full House next Tuesday. The resulting budget will be the final House budget.
Line-by-line comparisons of the new draft of the House budget vs. the subcommittee reports released earlier are below. Amendments passed in the Appropriations Committee are included. Yellow highlights show the changes from the subcommittee reports:
Budget documents of the new draft of the House budget, from the Legislature are below. If you have difficulty opening these, please visit www.ncleg.net and look under "News and Information" for "2011 Budget Information" and click on the items: The Special Provisions contain many changes from the previous version of the House budget proposal. Please see below for more details on some of the Special Provisions that relate to children's issues.
Highlights of House Budget Special Provisions (Thanks to our friends at the Covenant with North Carolina's Children for the bulk of the below analysis of special provisions.)
Governor's budgetary powers limited
The House budget would drastically reduce the power of the Governor to manage the budget approved by the General Assembly. Specifically, the bill: - Prohibits the expenditure of overrealized receipts
- Authorizes the joint House and Senate approps committee to meet monthly to review the Governor's management of the state budget
- Requires the governor to consult with the joint House and Senate Appropriations committees to do any of the following:
- establish any new state positions
- make any new expenditures
- enact any "extraordinary measures" necessary to balance the budget in the event of a revenue shortfall
- initiate any capital projects not specifically authorized by the GA
Health and Wellness Trust Fund Eliminated The House bill would eliminate the Health and Wellness Trust Fund (HWTF) along with the Tobacco Trust Fund. The HWTF funds a wide variety of programs to prevent tobacco usage, obesity and infant mortality. The money from the HWTF is now redirected to debt service, agricultural projects, and funds for the University Cancer Research Fund. Some funds are earmarked for the types of smoking cessation programs that the fund used to support, but only for one year. This means much less funding for health and wellness programs, specifically tobacco cessation and obesity programs. Funds that usually go to the Golden Leaf Foundation for economic development projects across the (mostly rural) regions of the state are swept into the General Fund for the next two years. See Action Item, below. Non-profit salaries capped The bill caps salaries for all non-profits receiving state funds using a sliding scale based on the amount of state funding. For instance, if an organization receives more than $10 million, the salary cap is $100k; if it receives less than $1 million, the cap is $60k. Directives to the Joint Education Oversight Committee The bill directs the Joint Education Oversight Committee to study a wide variety of education policies, including: - Teacher tenure
- Performance-based pay
- Reducing teacher student ratios in 1st through 3rd grades to 1:15
- Physical classroom constraints (no details here)
- Strategies to reduce dropouts
- Promoting successful transitions from HS to higher ed
65% of school funding must be used for the classroom
The bill would require LEAs to use 65% of funds in the classroom but fails to define classroom expenses. Tuition waivers eliminated The bill would eliminate a variety of tuition waivers for NC community colleges, including waivers for: - patients in state alcohol and drug rehab facilities
- any juveniles committed to DJJDP
- prison inmates
- students in HHS development programs
Early Childhood programs restructured; High quality Pre-K essentially eliminated
Smart Start - though the early childhood special provisions have been improved considerably since the subcommittee budgets were released, the bill still puts additional requirements on the state partnership and local partnerships - No more than 8% of totals costs for all partnerships for admin costs
- Caps salaries at $80k for statewide partnership and $60K for local partnerships
- 13% total match requirement (10% cash; 3% in-kind)
- No state funds on marketing campaigns
More at Four - the bill fundamentally changes More at Four from a pre-k program for low-income families to a child care subsidy program, eliminating the basic structure of the program and threatening the program and teacher quality standards that have made More at Four an award-winning program at the national level.
- DCD takes over More at Four from DPI
- Severs the connection to K-12 education, which makes transition harder for children and makes accessing federal Title I and IDEA funds for pre-K much more challenging, if not impossible.
- No requirement or funding for DCD to uphold the current high teacher and program standards that have made More at Four such a successful program.
- 20% carve out for non-low income kids - this carve out means that 20% of the families served by More at Four funds will NOT be from low-income families
- The bill would also implement a co-pay on a rate scale the same as child care subsidies, which means the most vulnerable children may not be able to afford the program.
This is of course on top of a 20% budget cut for both Smart Start and More at Four.
Look for an op-ed in Monday's News and Observer with more details.
Co-pay for state mental health services The bill implements a co-pay for mental health services in-line with Medicaid co-pay rates. School-Based Child and Family Team Initiative The bill creates the NC Child and Family Leadership Council, which will direct state agencies to participate in the Initiative. The Initiative is designed to pull together stakeholders in a child's life - family, educators, law enforcement, health and mental health providers - to create a plan for the child. The school nurse or social worker is supposed to coordinate the team. The same budget bill would cut funding for school-based child and family teams and cut funding for school social workers and school nurses. Planned Parenthood funding cut
The bill would eliminate state funding and state-administered federal funds for Planned Parenthood. This will have substantial repercussions for women's and children's health.
Department of Crime Control and Public Safety created The Departments of Corrections, Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and Crime Control and Public Safety would be consolidated into one department with five divisions, including a Division of Juvenile Justice. Many advocates are concerned about the repercussions this consolidation may have on the Division's mission.
Funding for Juvenile Justice Education Programming
The bill instructs DPI and DJJDP to work together to identify sources of education funding that can be used to cover education costs at DJJDP.
In-home monitoring for juveniles
DJJDP and DOC are instructed to work together to increase the use of in-home monitoring as an alternative to detention for juveniles.
Bill Update Tracking lists of bills in each of Action for Children's four areas of interest will be maintained on the website and updated weekly. Please visit our Policy Action page for full lists. Bill filing deadlines have mostly passed, so not many more bills will be introduced. With final House budget negotiations going on this week, not many bills moved. Crossover deadline (the date by which a bill must have passed at least one chamber to stay viable) was moved on the Senate side from May 12 to June 9 (House is expected to concur), which means bills have longer to move through the process and might suggest that we are in for a long session that goes into late summer or even early fall. Here are the bill highlights from this week: Safety SB49: INCREASE FINE FOR SPEEDING/SCHOOL ZONES passed out of the conference committee so will go to the Governor's desk.
SB397: EXPUNGE NONVIOLENT OFFENSE BY MINOR. Passed the Senate and moved on to House Judiciary B.
Education HB736/SB648: AMEND LAW RE. SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. The House bill passed the House. The Senate bill is scheduled in the Senate Education/Higher Education committee on Wednesday, May 4 (Rm. 544, 10 a.m.).
SB8: NO CAP ON NUMBER OF CHARTER SCHOOLS passed third reading in the House and sent back to the Senate for concurrence.
SB498 (HB579): MODIFY LAW RE. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. Passed Senate Education/Higher Education two weeks ago, but was re-referred to the committee for more debate. A compromise bill that consists of a parental opt-out rather than an opt-in will be heard in the committee on Wednesday, May 4 (Rm. 544, 10 a.m.). Health HB115: NC HEALTH BENEFIT EXCHANGE has been heard in the House Insurance Committee but no votes taken yet. The bill would establish the health insurance industry as a voting presence on the Board that regulates the state health exchange, to be implemented in 2014.
ACTION ITEM - Health and Wellness Trust Fund (Alert from our friends at the NC Alliance for Health)
House Budget Proposes to ABOLISH the Health and Wellness Trust Fund (HWTF) Tell Your House Member and the Governor to SAVE the Health and Wellness Trust Fund! Abolishing the HWTF will Set Back NC Efforts to Improve Public Health and Reduce Teen Smoking Rates - Now the Lowest in NC History!
Included in the House budget bill is a proposal to abolish the Health and Wellness Trust Fund as of December 31, 2011. If approved as is, the House Budget bill would fundamentally change how Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) funds will be distributed in North Carolina. Also abolished is the Tobacco Trust Fund (designed to support the interests of tobacco farmers and revitalize tobacco dependent communities). Funds from both the HWTF and the Tobacco Trust Fund would be redirected to debt service, the University Cancer Research Fund, agricultural projects and MAY be directed to a variety of health programs including research, education, prevention, and treatment of health problems, including funding for communities to respond to public health needs through Health Choice and Medicaid. Exclusive dedication of funding for tobacco use or obesity prevention is eliminated. - North Carolina's Health and Wellness Trust Fund is currently the ONLY pathway for the use of NC MSA dollars on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
- Over the next five years, the HWTF is expected to invest approximately $85 million from MSA funds into communities to improve the health of their citizens. This investment will be lost if the current version of the House budget passes.
- By abolishing the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, House legislators will eliminate the one meaningful source of funding for tobacco-use prevention in our state.
- Abolishing the HWTF will halt the significant success HWTF programs have seen in the areas of tobacco prevention and cessation and the success they hope to replicate in the area of obesity prevention. Both issues are the most critical and pressing health issues facing North Carolina's youth today as the top two preventable causes of death.
Since 2003, when the HWTF began funding teen tobacco use prevention and cessation efforts (including local programs and an evidence-based, highly effective media campaign), North Carolina has seen the following health benefits: - There are 53,000 fewer youth smokers than in 2003 when HWTF tobacco prevention programs began.
- The middle schoolsmoking rate in North Carolina has been cut by more than half since HWTF efforts began (from 9.3% to 4.3%), and the high school smoking rate has dropped by a third (from 27.3% to 16.7%). (Data based on North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey, 2007);
- These are the lowest rates ever recorded in our state's history.
- Thanks to the efforts of the HWTF,over 28,000 people enrolled in QuitlineNC- the ONLY free cessation resource for smokers in the entire state.
- For every $1 that HWTF invested in its programs, approximately $2.54 is generated in financial benefits.(This calculation is based on a number of factors including the medical cost of smoking in North Carolina as determined by the CDC in Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Morbidity and Economic Costs (SAMMEC) and calculated by an external health economist, Dr. David Chenoweth of Chenoweth and Associates. Click Here to see the full report)
Tell Your House Member and the Governor to SAVE the Health and Wellness Trust Fund by Contacting Your House Member By Monday, May 2 Messages:
- SAVE the Health and Wellness Trust Fund (HWTF). Abolishing the HWTF will set back efforts to improve public health. Legislators must continue to protect our youth from the harm caused by tobacco use. Don't let NC's historically low youth smoking rates go back up as they have in other states that reduced funding for tobacco use prevention.
- The HWTF is North Carolina's successful investment to stem the tide of teen smoking -- and it is succeeding! The HWTF's successful tobacco prevention programs save the state money in the long run by keeping kids from starting to smoke. The HWTF has also initiated funding for obesity prevention programs over the past few years with the hope of replicating the kind of success achieved in tobacco use prevention.
- If HWTF is abolished, the state's investment in tobacco and obesity prevention will be severely diminished, putting children at risk and costing the state even more in the long run. The state
- needs to put the wellbeing of its citizens first and not reverse the progress made by the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund.
Contact Information:
- To email your House Representative, go to the General Assembly's Website, find the name of your Representative and double click on the email address.
- To call your Representative, please call 919-733-4111 and ask for the member by name to be transferred.
- If you are not sure of the name of your representative or senator, check the General Assembly's website here.
- On this page, you may look up your representative by district number, by County, or by Zip Code +4. (Use the Postal Service's ZIP Code Look-Up Engine to find your zip code +4).
- To call the Governor: (800) 662-7952 or (919)733-4240
- To email the Governor: governor.office@nc.gov
Sincerely, Action for Children North Carolina | 
