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Budget Brief: Governor's Budget Plan Drops Early, Proposes Deep Cuts To Kids' Programs

January 9, 2012
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Bad news came earlier than expected last week, when some glitches at the State Capitol forced Gov. Jerry Brown to unveil his state budget proposal five days ahead of schedule. His plan includes more than $4 billion in cuts, with deep reductions to vital programs serving young children in California.

Some of the biggest cuts were in child care, with a $447 million reduction to child care programs, plus another $69.9 million in cuts to Proposition 98-funded afterschool programs. Approximately 62,000 child care slots would be eliminated under this plan.

Brown also proposed defunding transitional kindergarten starting in the 2012-13 school year. The program was designed to provide a year of transitional kindergarten for 4-year-olds who were traditionally able to attend regular kindergarten classes, but now cannot under a recent state law. According to EdSource, an estimated 40,000 4-year-olds who were expected to enroll in transitional kindergarten this coming fall would not be able to, and would have to wait another year before being eligible for regular kindergarten classes. Over the next three years, an estimated 125,000 4-year-olds would be affected.

Other proposed changes that could affect young children include a $64 million reduction to Healthy Families through a decrease in provider rates; a $28.8 million cut to Medi-Cal through a reduction in payments to community clinics and $75 million worth of reductions to the rates the state pays laboratories and some other medical service providers.

"These are painful reductions - mothers and kids will be getting the same welfare check in real dollars that they got in the '80s, and the same for the elderly, blind and disabled," Brown said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle. "These are not nice cuts, but that's what it takes to balance the budget."

Even worse news could be on the horizon. If Brown's tax initiative - which would provide $6.9 billion in additional revenue - is not approved by voters in November, the budget proposal includes a trigger reduction of $4.8 billion that would slash spending for schools, universities and courts. The triggers would also include enormous reductions in funding to park rangers and state firefighters, and the elimination of state-funded seasonal lifeguards.

In his budget plan, Brown also proposed long-term changes to various programs serving children. The Monday Morning Report will examine the impact of these proposed changes in coming weeks.

For more information, please contact Ruel Nolledo at RNolledo@First5LA.org.

<<Back to this week's Monday Morning Report.




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