Observations and comments about state government by State Representative Robert W. Pritchard.
The legislature reallocated money in the budget this week to utilize the Governor’s vetoed expenditures and keep several important programs operating. These expenditures will not increase overall state spending from the level approved in May.
With the passage of SB2412, seven state institutions will remain open at least through next June, $30 million will be restored for community-based mental health centers, and $28 million was added for substance abuse programs and $8 million for indigent burials. Homeless shelters that were cut 52 percent previously will receive nearly the same funding as last year. This appropriation for operations was critical for Hope Haven in DeKalb that had recently opened a new addition to meet the emergency housing needs of the community.
For education, the bill means $33.5 million more for Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants for low income students to attend college. While no funding was added for K-12 school transportation, there was $120.3 million added for early learning, implementing the new teacher and principal evaluation program, new report cards, mentoring, and exchanges for science-technology-English-math students.
The agreement comes just days before some 1,900 workers at several state facilities, including mental health centers and prisons, were scheduled to be laid off and patients at developmental and mental health facilities would have been forced out to often less desirable situations.
While the budget reallocation agreement runs through the end of our current fiscal year, it does not mean the end to discussions on closing some state institutions. As I have commented before, there are great benefits to looking at how our developmental centers and psychiatric hospitals are structured. Through careful planning and consideration, our state could not only save dollars, but more importantly, improve quality of life by transitioning some residents to community-based settings. Now that the Governor-created crisis has been temporarily averted, we must begin laying out a long-term solution to this issue.
District Office 815-748-3494 or E-Mail to bob@pritchardstaterep.com
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