Report Shows Children Claimed a Shrinking Portion of Colorado's Total State Budget Over Last Two Years
Source: Colorado Children’s Budget 2011, 27 Dec 2011
Impacts of the Recession and State Budget Structural Challenges Threaten Programs Supporting Colorado Kids and Long-Term Prosperity of State
According to a report released today by the Colorado Children’s Campaign, children have claimed a shrinking share of Colorado’s total state budget since FY 2009-10, despite a growing child population and increasing child poverty rates. According to the Colorado Children’s Budget 2011, the portion of the state budget supporting children’s programs and services decreased from 45.3 percent in FY 2009–10 to 41.7 percent in the current fiscal year. The Colorado Children’s Budget 2011 analyzes Colorado’s public investments in programs and services supporting children for the past five years, a period marked by a severe recession and weak economic recovery.
“Budgets should reflect the priorities of the community,” said Chris Watney, President and CEO of the Colorado Children’s Campaign. “Since children are our state’s greatest asset, adequately investing in them should be a high priority. These statistics are cause for concern.”
Over the five-year period analyzed in this report, Colorado’s investment in children’s programs grew at an average annual rate of 3.3 percent, just enough to keep pace with inflation and the growth in child population. However, the average annual growth rate was boosted due to the temporary infusion of federal dollars through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which has now been mostly spent. Since the peak in FY 2009–10, investments in children’s programs decreased by 6.4 percent in FY 2010–11 and 4.7 percent in FY 2011–12, whentaking into account inflation and the growth in child population.
Based on initial FY 2012–13 state revenue projections, possible decreases in federal support for discretionary children’s programs, and continued structural imbalances in the state budget, children’s programs are likely to face additional cuts in the upcoming year.
“No population is at greater risk as a result of Colorado’s current fiscal crisis than children,” said Watney. “More than 1.2 million Colorado children rely on the education, health and early childhood services they receive today to shape them into tomorrow’s adults. The budget decisions made in the upcoming year will impact our kids and our state long after the economy recovers.”
The Children’s Budget 2011 is intended to serve as a resource guide for policymakers and advocates who are interested in better understanding how Colorado funds children’s programs and services and to help unravel the often confusing and complicated details of the state budget. The report provides detailed information on appropriations and sources of financing for programs which help children across four domains: early childhood learning and development, health, K-12 education, and other support services.
Other key findings:
- When it comes to specific programs, appropriation data from FY 2007–08 through FY 2011–12 show that, overall, whether or not a program experienced growth hinged on one of three factors:(1) stateconstitutional protection;(2) dedicated cash fund revenue stream;or (3) ability to leverage substantial federal funding. If none of these exist, investments usually failed to keep pace with inflation and child population growth.
- Colorado relies heavily on federal grants to deliver services and support for children and families and future flows of these funds are uncertain. In the current fiscal year (after most ARRA funds were spent), federal grants account for more than one-quarter of state spending on children, with the level of dependence on federal funding varying greatly by domain. Nationally, federal spending on children is projected to decline as a proportion of the federal budget.
- Programs absorbing cuts during the five-year period covered in the report include K-12 education, Early Intervention Services, the Colorado Preschool Program, the Child Care Assistance Program, summer and after-school programs, public health and prevention programming, programs enhancing economic security for low-income families with children, child welfare services, and youth corrections.
- Colorado’s constitutional fiscal constraints and its reliance on a revenue system not capable of keeping up with state program commitments continue to pose challenges to lawmakers as they struggle to balance the budget and meet the needs of Colorado’s children in a recovering, but still sluggish, economy.
“Our state cannot cut its way out of the serious fiscal challenges that it faces,” said Watney. “We must work together to develop long-term structural solutions that will put our state’s budget and our future generations back on a path to success.”
The full report can be downloaded at www.coloradokids.org/facts/
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The Colorado Children’s Campaign is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization committed for over 25 years to creating hope and opportunity for all of Colorado’s more than 1.2 million kids. As the state’s most trusted source for data and research on child well-being and backed by an extensive, statewide network of dedicated child advocates, the Children’s Campaign champions policies and programs that help lift children out of poverty, improve child health, early childhood learning and development, and K-12 education, and provide all of Colorado’s children the opportunity to reach their full potential. For more information, please visit www.coloradokids.org.