In approving a historically austere state budget for 2008, legislators mandated significant service cuts for the most vulnerable populations — the elderly and children. The $66.2 billion budget, which still awaits the governor’s signature, is one of the most grim passed by lawmakers, eliminating nearly $4 billion from the previous year.
And everyone was asked to make sacrifices: $163.7 million from nursing home residents on Medicaid, $200 million from hospitals to treat poor patients, $18 million in child-welfare services, and $332 million from schools. Florida’s per-student funding, which already ranks below almost every other state, dropped by 1.8 percent.
As a result, Floridians will see schools closed, programs curtailed, teachers and other school employees laid off. Orange County Public Schools is targeting 585 teaching positions (4.4 percent) for possible cuts, though this includes annual contract teachers who may return if positions open up. In addition, more than 100 positions were eliminated outside of the classroom, including six school social workers and 19 administrative posts at the district level.
Moreover, to further promote cost savings, district officials are looking at switching the starting times for middle school and high school students, restructuring summer school and adjusting middle school athletics. OCPS, already reeling from a $32.4 million shortfall in revenues during the past year, is reducing department budgets by 7 percent and school budgets by 6 percent across the board.
Adding insult to injury, lawmakers also rejected a school sales-tax holiday for this year. In higher education, a 6 percent tuition increase for university and community college students next fall will be needed to help bridge the funding gap. “We will need to adjust our budget by $70 million,” said Rick Collins, chief financial officer for OCPS. “This is the worst financial adjustment we have had in 37 years. It’s substantial.”
He explained that it is a confluence of factors — revenue decreases due to a stagnant economy, state budget cuts and Amendment 1 — that have siphoned OCPS coffers. “We don’t believe the 2009 budget will be any better,” he said. “Hopefully there will be some recovery by 2010-11.” Children in the foster-care system also are holding out hope for better times. With an $18 million reduction in spending for abused foster-care children, critics say the cuts will leave many children at home with abusive parents.
Greg Kurth, CEO of Family Services of Metro Orlando, said the budget axe will slice $1.4 million from his agency in the next fiscal year, and may compromise the quality of support offered and force higher worker caseloads.
“I was taken aback by the level and severity of the cuts,” Kurth said. “I don’t think any real thought process went into these cuts; no discussion whatsoever.” In addition, there are other causes at work that are creating greater safety problems for children.
Citing funding cutbacks in mental health, health care and social work, along with the ongoing economic strain of the housing crisis and potential job loss in an uncertain economy, he said many families are increasingly stretched to their limits, both financially and emotionally. Also, Kurth points to a rise in the number of children with criminal records coming into the child-welfare network through the juvenile justice system.
“When all of that breaks down, those kids end up in our system,” he said. “I expect more struggling families in the future and our numbers to go up.” Unfortunately, the state Legislature’s lack of commitment to young people is nothing new, he said. Florida’s per capita spending for child welfare stands at just 70 percent of the national median.
“We’re already starting at a level where we’re underfunded,” he said. Dick Batchelor, co-chair of the Orange County Domestic Violence/Child Abuse Commission, is a longtime advocate for children. When he saw the state budget for 2008, he said it lacked compassion for the needy, calling it an “unmitigated disaster.” “It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” said Batchelor, who served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1974-1982.
“What we’ve done is dastardly.” Batchelor also decried denying treatment funding for abused foster-care children as unconscionable, adding that only 30 percent of child-abuse cases are ever reported. “We’re going to see these kids again, in the juvenile justice system and then again in the prison system,” he said.
Elderly to bear the brunt
In the tight budget year, the state Legislature also is asking seniors to tighten their belts. Nursing-home funding was particularly hit hard. However, Michael Patterson, vice president of operations for Avante at Orlando, with a 118-bed nursing home on North Semoran Boulevard, said the cuts were not as dire as feared. He said legislators figured in an annual cost-of-living increase for Medicaid recipients to help soften the cuts.
In addition, he said the state is looking to relax minimum staffing standards for Florida nursing homes, now the highest in the country. “We’re definitely not happy with this, but it could have been much worse,” he said. But he said cost increases for food, gas, manufactured materials and shipping will still be a challenge for nursing homes. “Along with the increase in energy costs, it definitely takes a toll on us,” he said.
Meanwhile, James Affant, chairman of the Orange County Commission on Aging, adopted a much more harsh, and politically pragmatic, view of the proposed budget. “People in nursing homes don’t vote,” he said, “but what [politicians] don’t understand is that their caregivers do vote. The caregiver will have to provide more money out of their pockets. I’m very concerned about the treatment of our senior citizens.”
Affant explained that nursing-home residents, unlike other segments of the population, can’t change their lifestyle or find another source of income to make ends meet. “They can’t take care of themselves.” He also cited a 5 percent cut by the state Department of Elder Affairs, which funds such programs as Meals on Wheels and Seniors First.
“The budget cuts impose a disproportionate amount of suffering on the elderly. It’s unfair to seniors,” Affant said. “It’s going to be very difficult to deal with.” Greg Mellowe, policy director of Florida CHAIN (Community Health Action Information Network), a statewide organization that gives a voice to health care consumers, said children and senior citizens are being singled out for cutbacks because these programs rely on discretionary, not mandatory, funding. He said the impact will especially be felt by nursing homes and hospitals.
“The cuts are very deep,” he said, noting a half billion in cuts in health care overall. “Health care organizations and providers will have to figure out how to cope.” Rather than put so many programs on the chopping block, Mellowe said lawmakers should have looked to increase revenues, such as hiking the cigarette tax, which could raise more than $1 billion a year. Florida hasn’t raised this “sin tax” in 18 years and currently ranks 45th in the nation.
Upon returning from the legislative session, these sentiments were echoed by state Rep. Darren Soto. To avoid more drastic cuts, he wanted to boost the cigarette tax as well and at least discuss reestablishing the intangible personal property tax, which was repealed two years ago when state coffers were flush with cash.
But his colleagues wouldn’t hear of it. On the positive side, Soto was able to restore funding for life-and-death issues such as medical transplants and people with disabilities. “My biggest concern was with the proposed cuts to needy families,” he said. Soto acknowledged, however, that the Legislature did a poor job in transitioning from a budget that was overflowing to one that is underserving its constituents.
“Obviously, it was a very rough session. It was a difficult process for everyone.”
steve
