Slide from Governor Dayton’s Budget Presentation. Source: Minnesota Management & Budget
On Tuesday, January 27, 2015, Governor Dayton released his 2016-2017 biennial budget. It has been the topic of several House and Senate committee hearings over the past week.
The proposed $42 billion budget, which includes a $1 billion dollar budget surplus, prioritizes services for children in education and human services as well as transportation. The governor will direct $373 million additional funds toward the youngest learners in our state. Specifically prioritized within the health and human services budget are child care, home visiting programs, access to early intervention services, mental health assistance for children and adults, the American Indian Family Early Intervention Program, and child protection oversight.
At the Wednesday (January 28, 2015) House Health and Human Services (HHS) Finance Committee meeting, Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Lucinda Jesson spoke to the number of children living in poverty, an area that can overlap with child maltreatment. Commissioner Jesson also spoke about the fragility of our mental health system, especially when it comes to access for families living in rural areas of Minnesota. Many questions were posed as to how to treat this issue, such as what role the state should play in direct treatment of Minnesotans with mental health needs and whether or not there is a need for the private sector to step in. Further budget items discussed during this meeting included a clarification that grant programs operating within NorthStar Care for Children can shift money (be flexible) within Northstar Care for Children, early intervention, and expansion of mental health crisis services and children’s mental health respite care. Lastly, to reduce incidence of adverse childhood experiences, the assistant commissioner of Community Supports Administration at DHS, Jennifer DeCubellis, requested to work with children’s mental health collaboratives and family service collaboratives across the state via 15-20 grants in order to train child serving agencies and professionals in identification of trauma, traumatic experiences, and interventions to reduce/prevent trauma. There are also hopes to create communities of learning through a national website where people can share their experiences and knowledge.
When it comes to child protection, the Governor will allocate $2.5 million in additional funds to oversight. This funding will go toward providing the state with additional full time equivalents (FTEs) to develop best practice protocols and training. Jim Koppel, assistant commissioner for Children and Family Services, talked at the House HHS Finance Committee meeting about inconsistency in child protection practice across Minnesota’s 87 counties. The proposals hope to better align county programs to lessen disparities in practices across counties. Based on recommendations from the Governor’s Task Force, changes to the child protection system will also include the “development of protocols, bulletins, and databases that will better inform care and help make better decisions.”
You can listen to the House HHS Finance Committee hearing here, and download associated documents here.
