The DC Budget Squeeze, a post from DC Fiscal Policy Institute

This week, we are featuring a blog post from DC Fiscal Policy Institute, with their permission. While we've spent the past month highlighting various FY2018 Budget asks that are backed by sound research and community input, we wanted to raise up what could be a quintessential piece of the funding pie, regarding tax cuts whose postponement could be key to insuring we make the investments we need to, so that we continue to make progress on supporting some of our most underserved.

The DC Budget Squeeze: Tax Cuts and Key Spending Demands Left No Room for Other Progress

May 3rd, 2017

The District is enjoying tremendous prosperity, yet there isn’t enough money in the proposed DC budget to support schools adequately or to make meaningful progress on ending chronic homelessness. In fact, funding for most parts of the budget will be smaller next year than this year.

How can that be?

One factor is beyond DC policymakers’ control: A lot of money will be sucked up next year by rising school enrollment, Metro’s woes, and a few other needs. But the other factor is something Mayor Bowser and the Council fully control: tax cuts. The proposed budget allows $100 million in tax cuts to go forward—triggered by a policy set three years ago—which left no room for things that matter a lot to DC residents and our economy.

With the budget now in the hands of the DC Council, they can choose to hold off on tax cuts so that badly needed investments can be made. In particular, the Council should reconsider plans to eliminate taxes on estates worth $5.5 million and to cut taxes on business benefiting from DC’s prosperity. Both the estate tax and business income tax have already been cut in recent years, by the way.

Read the rest of this blog by Ed Lazere here.

The FY2018 Budget Sells Our Youth Short

As you may have heard the Mayor's proposed FY18 budget, DC Values in Action, was released Tuesday. While we've only done an initial analysis a few things stood out.

First, we're thrilled to see that the proposed budget comes close to maintaining recommended TANF benefits for the over 10,000 children who were at risk of losing assistance this year.

Other areas of the budget are less positive:

• Funding for Out-of-School Time was kept flat at $4.9 million meaning we'll need to work collaboratively with council to get the full $10 million dollar investment we know we need.
• The homelessness budget increases youth housing services by $2.4 million; $3.3 million lower than anticipated. One bright note, the PASS and ACE diversion programs both saw modest boosts for next year.
• School funding only saw a 1.5% increase; 2 percentage points less than recommended by the per-pupil funding formula task force.
• Our modest transportation ask - $2 million to reduce a major barrier for adult and reconnecting learners- was NOT funded. 

We joined DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Bread for the City, Children's Law Center, Jews United for Justice and Miriam's Kitchen in a Press Release that was issued earlier today which breaks down other areas of the budget.  We strongly recommend reading it.

We'll continue to dig into the budget this week and will be sending out our April Newsletter (filled with some key opportunities to get involved) tomorrow. Equally exciting we'll be launching a new budget advocacy tool for members on Monday. So keep an eye out!

In the meantime, here are Budget Hearing dates. All hearings are held at the John A. Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. If you wish to testify, you may sign up here or directly contact the committee staff persons listed below. Some of these agency hearings are held concurrently with other agencies under the committee jurisdiction. Please note that dates & times subject to change. Check the Council website for updated schedule: bit.ly/dcfy18budget. And you can watch hearings live here.

Committee on Education - Chairperson David Grosso

To testify: sign up here or call 202-724-8061

Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education
Budget Hearing: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123

Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE)
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 11 am in Room 120

District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) - Public Witnesses Only
Budget Hearing: Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500

District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL)
Budget Hearing: Monday, May 1, 2017 at 11 am in Room 412

District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) – Government Witnesses Only
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Public Charter School Board
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

State Board of Education
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Committee on Finance & Revenue - Chairperson Jack Evans

To testify contact: Sarina Loy, sloy@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8058

Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123

Committee on Human Services - Chairperson Brianne Nadeau

To testify: email humanservices@dccouncil.us or call 202-724-8170

Department of Disability Services and Office of Disability Rights
Budget Hearing: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at Noon in Room 500

Child and Family Services Agency
Budget Hearing: Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Department of Human Services
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500

Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 9, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Committee on Labor and Workforce Development - Chairperson Elissa Silverman

To testify contact: Charnisa Royster, croyster@dccouncil.us or 202-724-7772

Department of Employment Services
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500

Workforce Investment Council
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500

Committee on Transportation & the Environment - Chairperson Mary Cheh

To testify contact: Aukima Benjamin, abenjamin@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8062

District Department of Transportation
Budget Hearing: Monday, April 24, 2017 at 11 am in Room 500

Department of Parks and Recreation
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Committee of the Whole - Chairman Phil Mendelson

To testify: email cow@dccouncil.us or call 202-724-8196

University of the District of Columbia
Budget Hearing: Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 11 am in Room 123

DCAYA's Advocacy Agenda for 2017

This week, we wanted to share our advocacy agenda, going into this year's Performance Oversight and Budget hearings. We've broken down our short term goals for the next year or so by our four main issue areas.

Youth Homelessness

One main goal is to scale up the capacity of our system to serve close to twice as many youth through developmentally appropriate and culturally competent services. To this end, we will be advocating for fully funding the first year objectives in Youth Strategic Plan, an investment of $5.7 million. Not limited to beds and transitional housing, this investment also includes building support for long term prevention and intervention strategies.

It's Time to #ExpandLearningDC! (version 2.0)

This week, DCAYA is pleased to re-release #ExpandLearningDC, our policy and funding framework for afterschool and summer learning in DC, which we originally posted here in April. The report has since been updated following a vote that month by the DC Trust’s Board of Directors to dissolve the organization. This version also uses updated data to better reflect trends in out-of-school time access within DCPS.

Read the full report and our recommendations:

#ExpandLearningDC Framework

Don't have time for the full report? Check out our executive summary and quality checklist. We've developed the checklist tool to help education leaders, policy makers, funders and parents determine universal out-of-school time (OST) quality standards for provider programs and the District-wide system as a whole.

Report Appendices: We've also prepared resources on DCPS elementary and middle schools and expanded learning outcomes to reference in your advocacy, as well as fact sheets for afterschool enrollment in Title I elementary and middle schools in each Ward!*

                             Ward 1 Fact Sheet                     Ward 6 Fact Sheet
                             Ward 2 Fact Sheet                     Ward 7 Fact Sheet
                             Ward 4 Fact Sheet                     Ward 8 Fact Sheet
                             Ward 5 Fact Sheet

CURRENT TRENDS

• Local funding for community-based out-of-school time programs has declined by 60% since 2010. This has resulted in only a quarter of the locally-funded slots for community-based afterschool and summer learning that were there for kids just six years ago, from close to 10,000 in 2010 to under 2,500 in 2016.
• DCPS schools with the highest “at-risk” student enrollment also tend to have the lowest share of available afterschool enrollment slots through OSTP. While all young people benefit from these opportunities, kids who are considered “at-risk” stand to gain the most from participating in afterschool. The present trend in funding to schools gives reason to be optimistic, but overall need in the District persists.

RECOMMENDATIONS

If we are serious about providing safe, youth-friendly opportunities focused on improving outcomes and quality of life for all our children now and in future, we must reverse these trends. To do so on the scale that is needed, policy makers, funders, intermediaries and educational leaders must embrace an approach that fully integrates expanded learning into our public education continuum.

Please read the report to find out more about these trends and DCAYA's 8 recommendations exploring what it will take for more expanded learning opportunities to reach the many thousands of children and youth in the District who stand to benefit from them!

(* Please note, we did not prepare a fact sheet for Ward 3 because there are no Title I DCPS schools in the Ward, however Ward 3 elementary and middle schools and their at-risk enrollment are included in our DCPS schools appendix.)

Joseph Gavrilovich is DCAYA's senior policy analyst for expanded learning. If you have any questions about today's blog, or would like more information on our afterschool and summer learning advocacy please contact him at joseph@dc-aya.org

You can also reach out to him to obtain an archived copy of the earlier version of the #ExpandLearningDC report.

ICYMI: DC Council's FY17 Budget Discussion Storify'ed

What is the Path Forward for Supporting Afterschool and Summer Programs for Youth?

In case you missed it, Senior Policy Analyst Joseph Gavrilovich was a guest blogger for the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI) earlier this week:

The DC Council should act this budget season to ensure resources will be available for afterschool and summer programs for low-income students, following the recent news that the DC Trust will be dissolved due to financial mismanagement and other problems. For over a decade, the Trust has served to distribute funds from DC government for these important programs run by community-based organizations. 

The collapse of the Trust raises a question that affects the lives of thousands of DC kids: Without the DC Trust, what is the path forward for funding youth development in the District? For the coming year, a short-term solution makes sense. A group of youth-serving organizations recommends allowing a local foundation to allocate the $4.9 million in the Mayor’s fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget for community-based afterschool and summer programming. This will give the Mayor and DC Council a year to work with community stakeholders to develop a permanent solution.

To read the rest of his blog, please visit DCFPI's site. 

Youth Voice: Afterschool Partnerships Expand Learning for DCPS Students

This week we’re bringing you the testimony of Nana Asare, an alum of DC SCORES. At last week’s April 14 budget hearing on DCPS, Mr. Asare was joined by Katrina Owens, DC SCORES’ chief of staff and a former DCPS teacher. A recent DCAYA survey of 51 community-based organizations like DC SCORES showed that 83% of kids served after school by those organizations in DC this year were in DCPS. We believe that when DCPS schools and staff actively collaborate with quality programs like DC SCORES to ensure harmony and integration, it yields the best possible experience for students. Nana’s testimony tells such a story.

My name is Nana Asare.  I am a DC SCORES alum and 19 years old. I graduated from Wilson SHS in 2014. I have been a student at Johnson State College where I participated on the soccer team. I joined the DC SCORES program at Brightwood Elementary School in 4th grade. It changed my life.

DC SCORES alum Nana Asare (far right) testifies to the DC Council Committee on Education.
DC SCORES chief of staff Katrina Owens, who also testified, is seated to his right. (April 14, 2016)

My family emigrated from Ghana when I was 2.  Before joining the DC SCORES team I was hard headed, stubborn and had a lot of behavioral issues.  My principal encouraged me to join the DC SCORES team and it changed how I saw myself, my school, and my community. From that day on, DC SCORES and soccer became a huge part of my life. 

DC SCORES provided me a place to succeed and belong.  As I continued in school I continued playing soccer and engaging with SCORES. As a student at Wilson SHS I was a member of the varsity soccer team.  I also volunteered with DC SCORES every summer as a Jr Camp Counselor. It was important to me to make sure that kids currently in the program had an opportunity to find success and their voice like I did.

EXTRA: DCPS Budget Oversight Responses Show Promising Trends for Afterschool in FY17

We are posting this special extra blog this week to follow up on our #ExpandLearningDC report. You can also download our statement here.

At the request of the DC Council’s Committee on Education, DCPS has provided a narrative of their proposed FY2017 budgets for afterschool and extended day at individual schools ahead of the chancellor’s budget oversight hearing on Thursday, April 21, 2016.

The school district’s responses to the committee show some promising new investments in afterschool programs in DCPS Title I elementary schools and education campuses going into the next school year:

• DCPS will bring afterschool programs back in three elementary schools in Ward 7 in FY2017. Anne Beers, Randle Highlands and Smothers elementary schools all had Office of Out of School Time (OSTP) programming in school year 2014-2015 which was discontinued in the present school year. All three schools will see this programming restored in the coming school year, with 380 new seats for afterschool student enrollment and 37 new afterschool FTE positions between the three schools. This means a total of 52 schools will offer OSTP afterschool programming in the coming school year. (This is up from 49 as reported in our policy brief.)
• DCPS projects adding more than 800 new afterschool spaces for student enrollment in FY2017. In addition to the seats for restored programming at the three new schools, DCPS plans to add 452 new afterschool seats in existing OSTP schools. Some of the biggest gains from the current school year into next will be seen at Bruce  Monroe at Park View, Noyes, Bunker Hill, Leckie and Stanton elementary schools. The total number of OSTP afterschool slots budgeted for in the coming school year is 7,700. (This is up from 6,790 at the end of last school year, as reported in our policy brief.)
• DCPS’s total proposed budget for afterschool programming in FY2017 is $5.4 million, a 33% increase from the current school year. Funding will cover programming at three additional schools and the new afterschool enrollment spaces, as well as 183 new FTE positions to provide afterschool coverage at the schools, for a total of 804 FTE positions system-wide.

Help Us #KeepDYOnTrack this Advocacy Season!

This week, we're kicking off our series on DCAYA's big budget asks for FY17. Expanding transportation subsidies for older students was not included in Mayor Bowser's proposed budget-- but we are prepared to keep advocating for our youth who have re-engaged in education! Earlier this year, DCAYA worked with our partners at Raise DC's Disconnected Youth Change Network (DYCN) to conduct a youth survey on transportation. Below you'll find the advocacy resources we identified. 

You can find the full report of our findings here: Issue Briefing on the Transportation Needs of Re-engaging Youth.

THE ASK: An additional investment of $950,000 will ensure that youth (ages 22-24) who have overcome multiple barriers to re-engage in their education at a Local Education Agency (LEA) are able to attend school without the persistent worry of how they will afford to get there. This estimate is based on the average weekly cost of transportation that students reported to DCAYA via the DYCN Youth Transportation Survey ($30/ week on average) and OSSE’s reported number of youth aged 22-24 enrolled in DC schools (LEAs) in 2015 (721).

TALKING POINTS:

No District-wide support for the transportation needs of students 22+

·   No youth 22 or older has access to any citywide transportation aids. The District's Student Transit Subsidy Program (includes Kids Ride Free and subsidized passes) is available to youth ages 5-21.

Absence of transportation support significantly affects 22-24 year old students

·        Transportation is a significant expense for District youth. 54% of survey respondents 22-24 reported spending over $30 a week or $120 a month travelling to and from their programs.

·         Despite the high cost of transportation, youth are prioritizing their education. The majority of older youth surveyed reported spending 45% or more of their weekly income getting to and from their educational programs.

 ·         Transportation costs are high for all youth, but those living east of the river are the hardest hit. 83% of all youth 22-24 reported spending approximately one-fifth or more of their weekly income getting to and from their programs; notably 55% of these youth live in Wards 5, 7, and 8.

Impact of DC’s second-chance system investments relies on access to affordable transportation

·     When transportation costs are so high, showing up to class is half the battle for re-engaging youth. 21% of older youth reported missing class 3 or more times a month due to insufficient transportation funds. Most programs are less than 40 weeks long, so youth are missing 13% of their program’s total class time because they cannot afford to get there.

·     The loss of economic productivity and social costs associated with disconnected youth are profound. The roughly 7,500 currently disconnected students[1] in DC cost taxpayers (in lost earnings) roughly $13,900 each annually, for a total of $104 million every year. When you add in the annual per-student social cost (subsidized health care, income assistance, higher rates of criminal justice involvement) of $37,450 associated with disconnection, that’s an additional $281 million a year.[2]

THE NEXT STEPS:

      1. Testify and elevate youth narrative: Council needs to hear from you and your youth about the ways transportation costs affect student persistence and success. Over the next several weeks, we ask that you prepare testimony and work with your youth to provide examples of the need for expanded transportation support for youth 16-24. 

District Department of Transportation (DDOT)
Budget Hearing: Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11 am in Room 500

To testify, contact Aukima Benjamin, abenjamin@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8062

Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME)
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 10 am in Room 120

Sign up here or call 202-724-8061

Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE)

Budget Hearing: Monday, April 18, 2016 at 10 am in Room 412

Sign up here or call 202-724-8061

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)

Budget Hearing: Monday, April 25, 2016 at 10 am in Room 412

To testify, contact Sarina Loy, sloy@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8058

2. Contact councilmembers to elevate ask & youth narrative

COUNCILMEMBER	AGENCY OVERSIGHT (HEARING DATE)	COMMITTEES	EMAIL	TWITTER
Mary Cheh*	DDOT (4/8)	Transportation & Environment (Chairperson)	mcheh@dccouncil.us	@marycheh
Jack Evans*	DDOT (4/8) WMATA (4/25)	Transportation & Environment Finance & Revenue (Chairperson)	jevans@dccouncil.us	@JackEvansWard2
Brandon Todd*	DDOT (4/8) DME (4/13)	Transportation & Environment  Education	btodd@dccouncil.us	@CMBrandonTodd
Kenyan McDuffie*	DDOT (4/8) WMATA (4/25)	Transportation & Environment  Finance & Revenue	kmcduffie@dccouncil.us	@CM_McDuffie
Charles Allen*	DDOT (4/8) DME (4/13)	Transportation & Environment Education	callen@dccouncil.us	@CharlesAllenW6
David Grosso*	DME (4/13) WMATA (4/25)	Education (Chairperson)  Finance & Revenue	dgrosso@dccouncil.us	@cmdgrosso
Vincent Orange	WMATA (4/25)	Finance & Revenue	vorange@dccouncil.us	@VOrangeDC
Elissa Silverman	WMATA (4/25)	Finance & Revenue	esilverman@dccouncil.us	@tweetelissa
Yvette Alexander	DME (4/13)	Education	yalexander@dccouncil.us	@CMYMA
Anita Bonds	DME (4/13)	Education	abonds@dccouncil.us	@AnitaBondsDC

*Indicates high influence for our budget ask

3. Use Sample Tweets (.@Councilmember)

(.@Councilmember) Please fund Kids Ride Free expansion for youth 22-24 to help #KeepDYOnTrack. #DCFY17

(.@Councilmember) Surveyed youth 22-24 lack transportation supports, over half spending 45% of income getting to class #KeepDYOnTrack #DCFY17

(.@Councilmember) 21% of surveyed youth 22-24 miss 3+ days of class/month bc they can’t afford transportation #KeepDYOnTrack #DCFY17

(.@Councilmember) Showing up is half the battle: students 22-24 are struggling to afford their trip to class #KeepDYOnTrack. #DCFY17

That's all for now! We hope to see you at the Wilson Building this advocacy season!

Amy Dudas is the disconnected youth and workforce development policy analyst at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. If you have any questions about today's blog, or would like more information on our transportation advocacy please contact her at amy@dc-aya.org.

---

[1] OSSE. (2014) “Bridging LEAs to Resources for Enhanced Student Outcomes” Online at: http://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/OSSE_T1S3_FINAL%20PRESENTATION_%20110714_YDA.pdf

[2] Belfield, Levin, & Rosen (2012). The Economic Value of Opportunity Youth. Civic Enterprises. Online at:

http://www.civicenterprises.net/MediaLibrary/Docs/econ_value_opportunity_youth.pdf.