Budget cuts hit social welfare groups
Progress being slowed or negated

Ada Rosmarin knows all too well that state cutbacks are making it more difficult to pay for education programs for needy youngsters. ‘‘We are used to doing what we can with what we have,’’ said Rosmarin, director of the Milton Early Childhood Alliance. ‘‘It seems human service and education programs are the first to be cut.’’

A report released today shows that state spending for health care, education, emergency and affordable housing, child care and social services has been dwindling during the past several years.

The news is discouraging for the Milton Early Childhood Alliance and others dependent on state money.

‘‘We want kids of different economic circumstances to have access to high-quality early education programs,’’ Rosmarin said. ‘‘This is one of the most important ways we can level the playing field. Our ability to do that has been compromised.’’

The study, titled ‘‘Kids, Cuts and Consequences,’’ was completed for the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center and the Home for Little Wanderers, the nation’s oldest and New England’s largest private, nonprofit child and family service agency. It indicates that budget cuts have threatened, and in some cases reversed, the accomplishments of numerous social service and educational programs.

‘‘As soon as we stopped fully funding programs like early intervention, homelessness prevention, teen pregnancy prevention, foster-care recruitment and remedial education programs, we start to see folks who don't just slip through the cracks, they disappear,’’ said Joan Wallace-Benjamin, president and CEO of the Home for Little Wanderers.

The report says $3.1 billion in state tax cuts from 1991 to 2001 reduced the government’s ability to provide essential services such as education, health care and physical safety to the state’s children.

‘‘Our government is the schools that educate our children, the police that keep them safe, the social workers that help children at risk of abuse or neglect and the health care safety net that 450,000 children rely on for basic medical care,’’ said Noah Berger, executive director of the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.

Berger’s organization provides independent research and analysis of state budget and tax policies, as well as economic issues affecting low- and moderate-income residents.

‘‘When we have a fully-funded program, we are seeing youth smoking rates cut at a higher rate than the national average,’’ said Diane Pickles, executive director of Tobacco Free Mass, an advocacy group.

Pickles said 90 percent of cigarette smokers become addicted to nicotine before they turn 18.

She said Massachusetts spends $3.75 million annually for tobacco prevention programs while the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that $35 million should be spent each year.

When the state reduced funds for anti-smoking programs by 91 percent, the steady decline in smoking rates among children slowed and illegal cigarette purchases by minors jumped dramatically, the study found.

From 2002 to 2004, Massachusetts cut per pupil state funding for education more than any other state, according to the report.

Within that cut was an 80 percent reduction in remediation programs for children who have trouble learning the reading, writing and math skills tested on the MCAS exam.

After the budget cuts, the steady progress on MCAS scores seems to have stopped. Fourth-grade English and math scores have gone down.

When funding for teen pregnancy prevention were cut by 38 percent in one year, teen birth rates began to climb in many of the high-risk communities the programs were no longer able to serve.

‘‘The reality is that on top of these other cuts, we really feel that services for adolescents have gotten the least attention,’’ said Patricia Quinn, director of public policy for the Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy.

Dennis Tatz
29 November 2005

http://www.patriotledger.com/articles/2005/11/28/news/news03.txt