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Tue, 28 Aug 2007
[Appeared last week in the RIMG newspapers, including the Woonsocket Call, Pawtucket Times, Kent County Times, and the rest.]
The Senate last week held hearings about some terrible things that happened in some of the state's foster homes. Some families and children were put in awful positions by what appear to have been poor choices by DCYF. But DCYF has been put in an awful position by poor choices made by our elected leaders. When you budget a disaster, should we be surprised when that's what we get?
Every spring the General Assembly debates the state's budget for the coming year, and every spring the House Finance Committee holds hearings on the different state departments. Advocates for the poor show up and beg not to have the services cut that provide crucial help to the state's poorest residents. The pleas fall on deaf ears, the services get cut, and the whole process is as predictable as the lengthening days in June.
This year, new fiscal controls have been put on the Department of Children, Youth and Families. These new restrictions were intended to keep the DCYF budget on a short leash by funding the department only three months at a time. In past years, DCYF has run out of its budget before the fiscal year was over, and to the state budget office and to the legislators of House Finance, this is a sign of irresponsible management. So this year, the DCYF Child Welfare budget was restricted, and the legislature withheld its funding until the end of each quarter. Demanding accountability is what strict fiscal management is all about, no?
Unfortunately, the new changes seem only to mean that DCYF will run out of money when the legislature isn't in session. So no one knows quite what to do. The Governor's staff believes this year's budget took away his authority to shift money over to the department, and is looking to House Finance to explain what ought to be done.
So what's the problem? Is it state workers demanding too much money, or is it state managers mismanaging the department?
Maybe it's neither. According to RI Kids Count, on the day Governor Carcieri was sworn in, in 2003, there were 2,564 children in "out-of-home" placements. This includes kids in foster care, in group homes, in hospitals and with relatives, all under DCYF supervision. At the time, there were 451 people in the department to look after them and the 5,700 other kids who didn't need that kind of service, at least not yet.
Four years later, the Governor is sworn in for his second term, and there are 3,311 children in out-of-home placement, and 6,100 other kids under DCYF supervision. This is a 15% jump just since last year, and a 29% jump since 2003. But the department staff was only up to 454, an increase of 0.7%. The latest addition? According to state budget documents, it was a junior member of the policy staff.
DCYF is not allowed to manage to its budget by only taking the children it can afford to take. In the face of skyrocketing demand for services to protect children whose situations are so bad that they can't stay in their homes, there is no reason to be surprised that the Child Welfare department couldn't stay within its budget. What's surprising is that the Governor and Assembly leadership refused to look beyond the numbers and figure out what was going on. They managed by the numbers and created a catastrophe.
Actually, it's not that surprising. Both the Governor and the Assembly leadership have an interest in maintaining the fiction that rising costs in our state government can only mean poor management. To admit that the state should spend more money on something would be to endanger their tax cuts. The passage of this year's budget saw an income tax cut that will save the top fraction of the top 1% of taxpayers -- half of whom don't even live here -- about $15 million in state taxes. The Assembly also stood by and refused to reinstate the tax on long-term capital gains, giving up another $20-30 million to the wealthiest taxpayers in the state, in the name of improving the state's economy. Economic development is important, but so is helping children who need our help.
While it's important that government be run efficiently, it's not true that costs can be cut year after year with no consequences. The hearings last week were a sign of a disaster no less real than the pictures from the Minneapolis bridge last month. Whether we need protection, or just a bridge that won't fall down, we all depend on our government. If we're going to have one at all, let's have one that's run well, not just one that's run cheap.
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