How Brewer's latest budget slams our kids: Children's Action Alliance

I love the Children's Action Alliance. They've done a lot of good work challenging racial disparities in the juvenile justice and foster care systems and the prosecution of kids as adults, and they've built a series of handouts tailored to each legislative district to look at the number of kids in poverty, education levels of parents, voting history for First Things First and the last state sales tax increase, etc. In my own district, LD14, 46% of the children are living in poverty. I had no idea my own neighbors were hurting that bad.That's staggering. 

They really stay on top of legislation and duke it out at the capitol for youth each year, and there are a lot of good reports and statistics on their site for anyone interested in the issue of juvenile justice in Arizona, so check them out. If you are media and have questions about any of these issues, call Amy Kobeta at the CAA, not me. She's their vice president, and handles communications, messaging, etc. Her contact info is:  

Children's Action Alliance
4001 North Third Street, Suite 160
Phoenix, AZ 85012
caa@azchildren.org
Phone: (602) 266-0707
Fax: (602) 263-8792

---------from the Children's Action Alliance in Phoenix-----

How Governor Brewer's Budget Recommendation Impacts Kids (January 19, 2012)

Governor Brewer's budget proposal continues most of the past cuts to children's health, education, and security. KidsCare and child care remain frozen. There is no state funding for full-day Kindergarten or preschool and no inflation funding for K-12 schools. Grandparents raising grandkids continue to go without help and the poorest mothers and children continue to be left behind.

Her budget uses current year funds to pay off some debt early, to upgrade some technology, and to build new prison beds. She also proposes investments in specific areas of behavioral health, early reading, and child protective services. Her proposal offers no plan for balancing the budget in future years -- no proposal to meet state priorities as the temporary sales tax expires and new tax cuts kick in. Ongoing revenues remain below ongoing expenditures -- even with the budget cuts in place.

 

Click here for a summary of the Governor's budget recommendation.

Stay tuned next week as the Legislature begins its budget hearings.

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Also, check this link out to see how kids fared under our last AZ legislature. There's a list of state lawmakers and a ranking of their votes for Arizona's children on this handout:

2011 Legislative Wrap-up: Who's for kids and who's just kidding? 

And finally, go here to access links to all the newspapers in Arizona, and send them an old fashioned letter to give the state a piece of your mind about how kids here are being treated. The Children's Action Alliance also has a page to coach you through writing a good one.