EAST LANSING – Hundreds of early childhood advocates vowed this week to prevent state lawmakers from putting programs for young children at the head of the line next year when it comes to budget cuts.
Their chants - "Never again! Never again!"- filled the Kellogg Center auditorium in response to a speech by David Hollister, president and CEO of Prima Civitas Foundation, one of the featured speakers Dec. 15 at Challenge 2010, the Early Childhood Investment Corporation's annual gathering for Michigan's early childhood community.
Read the full "Never Again" paper here.
"We must act now to ensure that never again will programs for young children and their families be politically expendable in this state," Hollister said. "Never again will Michigan children in their peak learning years be told the state has better things to spend its money on. Never again should early childhood programs be sacrificed in the budget battles."
In last summer's budget wars, Hollister noted, the state Senate initially proposed $300 million in cuts to early childhood efforts, including the complete elimination of the state's prekindergarten program for more than 30,000 disadvantaged 4-year-olds.
In the final budget some funds were restored, but still the damage to early childhood was steep and included:
- A 50 percent cut in the Great Start School Readiness preschool program, denying 2,200 low-income children the opportunity to enter school on a level playing field with their peers.
- A $113 million cut in child care subsidies for low-income parents who are working and trying to support their families.
- Deep cuts in reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers, jeopardizing access to care for more than 800,000 Michigan children—a third of all children in the state – insured by Medicaid. More than half (54%) of Michigan children under age 1 are covered by Medicaid.
- Cuts in mental health services for children and their parents, at a time when 10 percent of young children suffer from social-emotional problems but only 1 percent get help.
- Cuts in public health programs to prevent infant mortality and lead poisoning.
- Deep cuts in family preservation and support programs, including home-visit programs and other supports to help parents become their children's first and best teachers.
- Cuts to public schools, making it harder for school districts to invest in the early childhood programs that are the foundation for educational achievement.
"The 2011 budget could be even more disastrous for young children," Hollister warned. "The federal stimulus dollars are gone, and economists say state revenues will not increase sufficiently to make up for the loss. Michigan will face a funding cliff that could affect all state-funded services. Standing on the precipice of that cliff are our youngest children and poorest families."
Educating lawmakers and candidates for state office early on about the direct social and economic benefits of investing in the state's youngest learners will be key in preventing further damage to the state's early childhood efforts, Hollister said.
"We have the ammunition," he said. "(There is) irrefutable scientific evidence of the importance of early childhood services for children's development, compelling economic data indicating that investing in young children is key to the state's economic prosperity, and polling showing overwhelming public support for early childhood programs."
What the upcoming battle over the 2011 fiscal year budget will reveal, Hollister said, are the state's true priorities.
"The state's annual budget is the single most powerful expression of the state's priorities. During the budget process, lawmakers allocate the state's increasingly scarce resources according to priorities that should reflect the wants and needs of their constituents. We must make sure elected officials -- from local school boards to the Michigan Legislature -- understand that (cuts to early childhood) hurt children, families and the state itself. Our silence now is implied consent."
Read the full "Never Again" paper here.