LANSING, Mich. -
State Representative Dudley Spade (D-Tipton) today announced that
the Legislature has passed an agreement on the budget for the Department of Human Services for Fiscal Year
2007-2008. The budget, which is the third largest total in the state with appropriations totaling just over
$4.5 billion, passed both chambers and includes reforms totaling $80 million, or twenty percent of the $400 million in
cuts made by the legislature as part of an agreement to close the state's $1.75 billion structural deficit. Key
provisions of the deal include retaining full funding for the Adrian Training School, putting 150 new caseworkers in
local DHS offices across the state to reduce Michigan's staggering caseloads, increasing funding for day care providers,
and drawing $12 million more in federal Title IV-E funding to help support the children in Michigan's foster care and
juvenile justice systems.
"What we have been able to accomplish in the Department of Human Services budget this year through the hard work
and compromise of all the parties involved in the process is nothing short of amazing," Rep. Spade said.
"This agreement will save the State of Michigan $80
million in the 2007-2008 fiscal year alone without reducing or eliminating a single service to our most vulnerable
citizens. Through some of the reforms we have implemented, particularly the program to help identify cases
for which the State is eligible to collect federal title IV-E money, the long term saving could easily be in the range
of hundreds of millions of dollars. This will mean a better deal for
Michigan's taxpayers and better services and support for the
least among us."
Under the budget agreement reached by the Legislature and the Governor's office earlier this year to close
Michigan's $1.75 billion structural deficit, the various
budget subcommittees were required to find reforms and cuts totaling $400 million from the FY 2006-2007 budget.
The reductions passed for the DHS budget total $80 million below current spending levels and account for twenty
percent of the total spending reform called for in the agreement. While the initial House proposal called for reductions
totaling $109 million, the additional monies move the state a long way toward addressing the shortfalls in critical
front-line staffing that are at issue in the lawsuit brought against the State of
Michigan by the group Children's Rights.
Specific highlights of the agreement passed by the legislature addresses the following
areas:
• Increasing the utilization of available federal funding by adding new caseworkers to review the current
and incoming caseload for eligibility for federal Title IV-E money, thereby increasing the amount of state assistance
money that can be used to support children in Michigan's
foster care and juvenile justice systems.
• Adding additional DHS staff and dollars for contracting with private providers to address the staggering
number of children up for adoption who have languished in the system for over a year.
• Adding 150 new DHS caseworkers to help address the alarming caseloads currently heaped upon front line
staff and contract with private providers to license foster care homes as a way to reduce the number of current DHS
caseworkers that have been diverted to this function.
• Providing funding for SSI advocates for those citizens currently receiving assistance from the state who
might be able to qualify for SSI with the proper legal assistance, thereby reducing the current state burden and freeing
up funds that could be used more effectively elsewhere.
• Contracting with private agencies to help increase the collection rate for the over $9 billion in child
support arrearages currently owed to families and children in
Michigan.
"The Children's Right's lawsuit needs to be a wake-up call for the DHS and our state's human services providers
to address the astounding shortfall that children in our state face compared with those across the nation," Rep. Spade
continued. "This lawsuit is a referendum on the current quality and level of services that
Michigan provides to its children and unfortunately we come
up woefully short. This budget agreement takes a large step toward addressing both the issues in the lawsuit
and those that, while not specifically cited, reduce the level of care we are able to give our children. I believe
that this budget make it clear that this legislature is committed to addressing both the short and long term needs of
Michigan's children."
While the issue of expanding the scope of
Michigan's existing public/private partnership loomed
large throughout the budget process, with many wide ranging proposals and wild speculation about the level of expansion,
the final agreement contains a moderate solution with significant budgetary savings. The agreement will close
the 80 medium security beds currently housed at the Maxey
Training School and provide for increased contracting for
adoption services to expand Michigan's current
network. The agreement protects full funding for the
Adrian Training
School and
Michigan's other three medium security juvenile justice
facilities as well as the high-security wing of the Maxey
Boys Training
School and the four juvenile justice community centers around the state.
The final agreement also fully funds state foster care services in their current form.
"The cost of housing one boy in Maxey's medium security wing would have been nearly $250,000 next year under the
previous budget, over twice as much as comparable public or private facilities," Rep. Spade concluded. "These
kinds of skyrocketing costs give Adrian
Training School and other such facilities around
Michigan a bad name. While there were times I
felt I was the only person up here fighting to preserve the good work we have done in
Lenawee
County with the girls at the
Adrian Training
School, this proposal leaves in place the public safety net that many child care
workers and providers around the state agree we need. At the same time, the direction we have taken is
clear: Michigan's public/private partnership is a key component in maintaining a competitive and high-quality
system of human services and we must continue to ensure that Michigan's children and most vulnerable citizens get the
greatest possible benefit our of each and every dollar that we spend."
The bill now moves to Governor Granholm's desk where it is expected to have a very short stay before she signs
it into law.
