Last month, Governor Snyder signed the fiscal year 2014 (FY2014) budget into law.  The state budget is the single most powerful expression of the state’s priorities and can be used as a tool to improve opportunities for children and families or worsen disparities.  The FY2014 budget proves to be a mixed bag with some significant steps forward and some hugely missed opportunities.

A  big win for children is the $65 million expansion for the Great Start Readiness program.  This 60 percent increase will ensure that thousands of additional children will have access to a high quality preschool program and be better prepared to succeed in school, reducing the achievement gap.  We can also applaud the $11.6 million expansion of the Healthy Kids Dental Program, which will ensure that 70,500 Medicaid-eligible children in Ingham, Ottawa, and Washtenaw Counties will have access to high quality dental care.  Dental disease is the most common chronic illness for children – more so than asthma or hay fever – and disproportionately affects children of color and children from low-income families.

There were some mixed results in the final budget.  For example, the final budget included $2.5 million to support the state’s Infant Mortality Reduction Plan.  This level of funding to support the state’s plan is a step in the right direction, but falls short of the $11 million needed to fully implement the plan.  In a state where African American infants continue to be three times more likely than white infants to die during the first year of life, fully implementing the state’s Infant Mortality Reduction Plan while ensuring that other supports that promote healthy pregnancy and birth are essential to mitigate this unacceptable disparity.

And there were some missed opportunities.  Efforts were made to increase support for school-community partnerships through the Communities in Schools program; and we know that incentives for schools to create community links aimed at strengthening schools, increasing parent involvement, and meeting children’s needs can improve student outcomes and reduce the achievement gap.  Unfortunately, support for CIS did not come to fruition in the final budget.  Also, the final budget provided no additional resource for before- and after-school programming which improve educational success for all students and demonstrate the greatest benefit for students who face the most extraordinary educational challenges; and no funding increases for opportunities for the 5th and 6th year of high school – additional years that have proven to increase graduation rates for students who struggle the most in school.

And of course, the battle to expand Medicaid still rages on.  While more children would not be insured, Medicaid expansion would benefit children in significant ways.  More than one out of four individuals covered by the expansion would be women of child-bearing age, one out of four would be young adults who might not otherwise have health insurance, and 91,000 additional parents would have health care coverage.  However, Medicaid expansion is not a lost battle.  The House has already passed a Medicaid reform package separate from the budget bill, which includes the expansion, and the Senate continues to debate this bill.  The Senate Government Operations committee met today to provide a brief overview of the Senate workgroup that will be working over the summer in the hopes that Medicaid reform and expansion can be approved by the Senate in the fall.  We encourage you to continue talking to you State Senators about the importance of Medicaid expansion for your family and your communities.

Learn more about the FY2014 budget and Medicaid Expansion by visiting our Budget Basics library.

-Mina Hong

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