In the early morning hours of October 1st-the first day of the new fiscal year-the Michigan Legislature approved a continuation budget for fiscal year 2010 after failing to come to an agreement on some of the major cuts proposed to balance a $2.8 billion budget deficit.

Although a second continuation budget was voted on to continue payments for K-12 education, agreement was not reached and the K-12 School Aid budget was sent to a second conference committee. Early on the morning of October 9th, a compromise on the K-12 budget was approved by the legislature.

A number of important budgets that affect children and families have not yet been sent to the Governor for her signature, and are being held in the Senate on a motion to reconsider their immediate effect. The Governor has indicated that she expects to use her veto power "to shape this budget to protect the priorities of Michigan families."

During October, one major question will be whether the Governor and the Michigan Legislature can agree to final budgets that include cuts only, or be able to negotiate either the allocation of additional federal stimulus dollars or new revenues to soften the blow. A number of revenue bills have been introduced and several have been approved by the House of Representatives.

If no new federal or state revenues are approved, many important children's programs and services are at risk.

Read more in our latest edition of Budget Basics: Update on the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget: Services for Children and Families.

First Focus recently released Children's Budget 2009, the newest edition of the organization's comprehensive guide to all federal spending on children. This year's book includes information on the over 180 federally funded programs that are aimed at enhancing the well-being of our nation's children. To download a summary of the report, click here.

Children's Budget 2009 features a special section that details investments in children made through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, known as the economic stimulus package. This book is an invaluable resource for all those seeking to improve the lives of America's children.

Key findings of Children's Budget 2009 include:

• For the past five years, less than one nickel out of every new, real non-defense dollar spent by the federal government has gone to children and children's programs.
• Children's spending makes up less than ten percent of the entire non-defense budget.
• The overall share of federal, non-defense spending going to children's programs has dropped by twelve percent over the past five years.
• Real discretionary spending on children has declined by one percent since 2005, while at the same time all other non-defense discretionary spending has increased by 4 percent.

To raise awareness of this alarming trend, Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) has introduced introduced the Children's Budget Act, legislation that would provide an annual accounting of all federal money spent on children. To download a summary of the Children's Budget Act, click here.

First Focus is a bipartisan advocacy organization that is committed to making children and families a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. First Focus brings both traditional and non-traditional leaders together to advocate for federal policies that will improve the lives of America's children.