Conference Committee Budget Analysis

Wednesday evening, the Conference Committee released their version of the fiscal year 2011 Massachusetts state budget. Governor Patrick can try to veto elements of the budget before signing it into law. This will hopefully occur before July 1, when fiscal year 2011 begins. Overall, teen parent programs and teen pregnancy prevention fared well in the Conference Committee budget. Below is a synopsis on how each program fared. Please note we compare the Conference Committee funding amounts and language to the current fiscal year 2010 budget. Funding for some of the programs below is dependent on whether the federal government approves an extension on certain Medicaid or “FMAP” money. For each program below, we discuss how funding in the Conference Committee budget would be impacted should Massachusetts not receive the FMAP money.

Teen Pregnancy Prevention: Teen Pregnancy Prevention would be funded at $2,448,327 in the Conference Committee budget (a $200,000 or 7.6% reduction). Although any cut to the line item is distressing, this is a victory for this fiscal climate. If federal FMAP money is not approved, Conference Committee proposes funding Teen Pregnancy Prevention at $2,398,332 (a 9.4% reduction).

Young Parent GED Program (YPP): If the FMAP money is approved, the line item that includes YPP, Employment Services Program (ESP) would be funded at $23 million, an increase of $2 million! Conference Committee budget language makes YPP funding ultimately at the discretion of the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), but should Congress approve FMAP money we are confident DTA will maintain level funding for YPP. If Congress does not approve FMAP money, ESP would be funded at $15 million and Commissioner Kehoe plans to cut YPP by 33%. The Alliance will continue our advocacy urging policymakers to fully fund YPP regardless of whether Congress approves FMAP money.

Teen Parent Child Care: Teen Parent Child Care would likely be funded at current levels under the Conference Committee budget. Teen Parent Child Care is based on funding from TANF Related and Income Eligible Child Care. TANF Related Child Care would be funded at $127,358,313, a 10% increase. None of the funding for TANF Related Child Care is reliant on FMAP money. Income Eligible Child Care would be funded at $233,527,427, an 11% decrease. Income Eligible Child Care would lose an additional $5 million or 2% should Congress not approve the FMAP money. Commissioner Killins can transfer a certain amount of money in between these two line items, so the Alliance also analyzes the sum of these two line items. When these two line items are taken together, they would be reduced by 5% should Congress approve FMAP money. The two line items together would be reduced by approximately 6% if Congress does approve the FMAP money.

Teen Living Shelter Program (TLP): TLP would maintain funding levels and be funded at $6.6 million. None of the funding for TLP is reliant on FMAP money.

Young Parent Support Program (YPS): Services for Children and Families, the line item that includes YPS would essentially be maintenance level funded. The line item would be funded at $251,681,594. $44.1 million was moved out of this line item and into its own line item for family preservation and re-unification. If FMAP money is not approved by Congress, Services for Children and Families would be reduced by approximately 2% or $4 million under the Conference Committee budget. We cannot be certain at this time whether this would mean a cut to YPS. There is language supporting funding YPS in the Conference Committee budget, but it is ultimately at the discretion of the Department of Children and Families.

Healthy Families: Healthy Families would experience a reduction of $148,638 or 1.4%. None of the funding for Healthy Families is reliant on FMAP money.