This spring, more than 1,000 organizations – an unprecedented advocacy effort in terms of both the number and diversity of groups – signed on to a Children’s Movement letter calling on Governor Newsom and the California State Legislature to truly prioritize kids in the budget, by holding crucial children’s programs and services harmless, and increasing targeted supports as much as possible. This action is especially critical given the dramatic learning loss so many students are experiencing and the fiscal crisis the state now faces as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result of this effort, many of the cuts to early childhood, health and child welfare that were proposed in the May Revision were restored. Notably, the final budget agreement protected the Family Urgent Response System, a 24/7 trauma-informed response system for current and former foster youth and their caregivers, and made no cuts to the Local Control Funding Formula, or categorical programs – including after school, adult education and career technical programs – which will be funded at their 2019-20 levels.
