FY'13 Budget Season Wrap-Up

The FY’13 budget season is a wrap (well, at least as far as the Council’s role is concerned) and as is DCAYA’s habit we thought we would share some of the highlights;

Youth Employment

The Department of Employment Services (DOES) received $8,741,000 for Year Round Youth Programs up from the FY 12 budget mark of of $7,401,000. The Summer Youth Employment Program was funded at 11,371,000 with the Mayor’s Youth Leadership Institute funded at 762,000. In FY’13 DOES will continue to push out new agency run programming with the Pathways for Young Adults (PYAP)year-round program as well as the One City High School Internship Program and the One City College Internship Program. 

Additionally, CFSA has allocated 1 million of its budget formerly used for "Community Services and Child Placement Activity" to go towards a subsidized employment program for foster youth transitioning out of care. $800,000 of this allocation must go towards youth stipends which will be administered via an MOU with DOES.

Education

On the education front,summer school at DCPS will see another budget reduction, receiving only $2,350,000 compared to the $4,596,000 allocated last fiscal year. There was another surprising budget cut in School Social and Psychological Services. The program’s budget will get even smaller in FY' 13, going from 368,000 in FY 12 to 92,000. Moreover, Special Education’s funding dropped from $122,850,000 to $109,732,000.

 Despite the budget reductions in DCPS there is one noteworthy increase in FY’ 13. The Youth Engagement program will receive 1,791,000; over a million dollar increase to the meager $435,000 it received in FY’ 12. The program focuses on providing in-school programs and services that promote healthy lifestyles so that students are better prepared for school. Although, many of the DCPS programs will experience considerable budget reductions in FY’ 13, overall DCPS received four percent budget increase in FY ‘13. These increases aren’t focused on one specific area but are instead scattered throughout different DCPS programs. Some of the most significant increases are in Curriculum Development and Implementation whose budget rose from $1,390,000 to $7,710,000 and Inclusive Academic Programs which rose drastically from $2,535,000 to $10,332,000. Lastly, the per pupil funding base rate for both DCPS and DCPCS will rise from $8,945 to $9,124 per student for fiscal year 2013.

Out of School Time

Funding for CYITC or The "Trust" remained stable this year at the $3 million mark. While the Trust's budget isn't a reduction from FY'12 its important to remember that out-of-school time programs in DC have experienced a 44% reduction overall since 2009. DCPS' Office of Out of School Time Programs received a cut of $3 million dollars and will also see a substantial change in the number of programs it can effectively partner with in SY'13 due in large part to the new Proving What's Possible grant program.

The Commission on Arts and Humanities did receive an uptick in funds this year,as did the Department of Parks and Recreation did receive a budget increase this year, although mainly to cover additional FTE's at notoriously understaffed sites. DPR will also launch the new Office of Partnerships and Development in FY'13 as a means of better integrating into the communities they serve.

Health and Human Services

The Department of Health’s Prevention and Intervention Service’s budget rose from $5,390,000 to $14,277,000. The Council also made the critical decision to delay the anticipated 25 percent reduction in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits which was scheduled to take affect this fall. Thousands of children, youth a families would have felt the effects if this reduction had it taken place. On the Youth Homelessness front, the Department of Human Services reports allocating $5 million to homeless youth services up from $3.5 million in FY'12 while this is a budgetary increase what this really is a better accounting of funds spent on different sub-populations of homeless and unstably housed young people (children, teen parents, runway and homeless youth).

While not every program the youth advocate community would have liked to have seen funded made it into the the final budget, it important to remember that funding is not the only piece of the puzzle.As such organizations like DCAYA need youth, parents, service providers and community members to be involved in  advocacy efforts YEAR Round!

Interested in getting more involved with DCAYA and the youth policy scene in the District? Check out Why YOU should be a member of our coalition!