Slicing 5% from the paltry budget for health and human services was the subject of a hearing that drew standing-room-only crowds to Austin Thursday. We did not testify, because Texans Care for Children cannot advocate for any plan to invest still fewer dollars in an already starved system vital for children, families, and Texas. As these services go without resources, our children fall behind children just like them in other states. Allowing still worse outcomes for our kids—especially when, as we pointed out recently in this space, better alternatives exist—is indefensible.
We attended the hearing instead to pay witness. Public leaders explained plans to cut critical human services like mental health and services to vulnerable groups. Hundreds in a crowd that spilled over into the lobby shook their heads in disbelief. Department of State Health Services Commissioner David Lakey's understatement was "This is hard.” With a proposed $304 million less for needy Texans, a speaker quoted in a headline for the Quorum Report said, "We've already been cut to the bone. Now we're cutting into the bone.” A sixth generation Texan and mother of a young man with special needs who stood in the crosshairs of proposed cuts pleaded with officials to look at other alternatives, saying, "Where there's a will, there's a way."
Do Texas leaders have the political will, though, to listen? The governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the House
asked agency leaders to make these plans but weren't there to hear the message. Texas needs to govern with our future in mind. We must move past short-sighted cuts that carry a high toll for our state's spending and people, and instead think for a moment about how to position Texas for growth when good times return.
As one speaker at the hearing put it: "If you cut revenue, you need to cut expectations." Expecting and working toward a better tomorrow is Texas leaders' job. We need to ensure they keep that in their sights.
News and Reports Weekly Round-Up
Child and Maternal Health
2.12.10 Budget Cutters Eye State Hospitals, Medicaid Providers (San Antonio Express-News)
2.11.10 Teen Pregnancy Falsehoods (Dallas Morning News)
2.9.10 First Lady Launches Campaign Against Child Obesity (Multiple Sources)
2.8.10 Family Dinners, Sleep, and TV Limits Can Reduce Risk of Child Obesity (LiveScience)
2.7.10 Improving Our Children's Health Starts where They Learn and Play (Huffington Post)
2.6.10 Swine Flu Still Spreading, though at Reduced Rates (Los Angeles Times)
More Health News...
Child Protection
2.12.10 New February Reports and Resources Pertaining to Child Protection (Partners in Child Protection Reform)
2.12.10 Realizing the Promise of Home Visitation: Addressing Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment (Family Violence Prevention Fund)
More Protection News...
Family Financial Security Headlines
2.6.10 Earned Income Tax Credit Can Help Families, Stimulate the Texas Economy (Texas Comptroller's Office)
More Financial Security News...
Juvenile Justice Headlines
2.11.10 Sen. Van de Putte: Invest in At-Risk Youth and Save Money, Lives (San Antonio Express-News)
2.10.10 Youth Crime Declines as Texas Juvenile Prisons Empty: What Explains It? (Grits for Breakfast blog)
2.9.10 Throwaway Children: Juvenile Justice in Collapse (The Crime Report)
More Juvenile Justice News...
Child Mental Wellbeing Headlines
2.11.10 Mental Health Care Cuts Likely to Meet 5 Percent Requirement (KVUE-TV)
2.10.10 Children Labeled ‘Bipolar' May Get a New Diagnosis (NPR)
More Mental Health News...
More About Kids
2.12.10 CPPP Says Texas Kids Fare Worst than Most (Texas Tribune)
2.11.10 Immigrant Children are Less Likely to Live in Single-Parent Families (Annie E. Casey Foundation)
2.11.10 New Website: RecoveryForTexas.Org Getting the Most for Texans out of the Federal Recovery Act(Texas Impact)
2.10.10 The Last Time Around: Lessons from the Tough Budget Year of 2003 and What it Could Mean for 2011 (Texas Tribune)
2.10.10 What's In It for Kids? The 2011 Federal Budget Proposal (Connect for Kids)
