TYLER, Texas – Funding cuts are forcing thousands of Texas children with disabilities and developmental delays to lose access to critical therapy.

The Texas Legislature first cut funding several years ago to the state's Early Childhood Intervention program, also called ECI, forcing a significant number of contractors providing services for children to drop out of the program.

Stephanie Rubin, CEO of Texans Care for Children, says a recent study by her group found those cuts are causing major hardships for thousands of Texas families that have children with special needs.

"Fewer kids are being served by these early intervention programs that help babies and toddlers with disabilities get on track,” Rubin points out. “The Legislature is interested in helping these kids out but has not yet supported the program sufficiently with new funding."

Rubin says ECI provides speech, physical and occupational therapy to prepare children with disabilities to start school.

She says lawmakers cut state money for the program in 2011, and slashed Medicaid reimbursements in 2015.

At the time, lawmakers said the cuts were necessary to balance the state budget, but they failed to keep a promise to restore the funds during this year's legislative session.

Rubin says the study also found that while, overall, fewer children are participating in the program, the funding cuts have hit some groups harder than others.

"Over the last five to six years in particular, we've seen a tremendous drop in the number of kids who are enrolled in the ECI program, with a disproportionate impact on black and Hispanic families,” she states. “And this is at a time when the population of young kids is going up in our state."

Rubin says as providers are forced to drop out of the program, families – particularly those in rural areas – are often traveling great distances to find providers.

"These programs cover many counties and big distances,” she explains. “If a family does not have access to an ECI program, they may have to drive hundreds of miles to find a therapist."

Rubin says her group and others plan to return to the 2019 legislative session to lobby for getting ECI funding fully restored.




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New Mexico's families of color, Hispanic families in particular, have been hit hardest by income losses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.

The annual Kids Count Data Book from New Mexico Voices for Children tracks 16 indicators across four domains: economic security, education, health, and family and community.

Emily Wildau, KIDS COUNT coordinator at New Mexico Voices for Children, said families suffering from income losses relied heavily on monthly checks from the American Rescue Plan.

"One of the most interesting things in that hardship data is limited numbers on how families have been spending the expanded child tax credit," Wildau reported. "Primarily, they're paying for their basic needs, they're paying down debt at really high rates and trying to do some saving as well."

The payments would have been continued for another year under the Build Back Better Act, which has stalled in the U.S. Senate.

Wildau pointed out data showed the pandemic led to increases in childhood food insecurity, greater numbers of children enrolled in Medicaid, and significantly higher numbers of chronically absent students.

New Mexico is one of the poorest states in the country, but is currently flush with resources due to federal relief dollars and high state revenues. At the same time, the state regularly ranks last in K-12 education.

It could change if voters approve a question on this November's ballot to tap the state's Land Grant Permanent Fund to provide additional money for early childhood and K-12 education.

Wildau hopes the new data pointed will keep lawmakers focused on child and family well-being.

"We want to consider everything that's done now with the budget, as far as early childhood goes especially, is seen as a bridge to hopefully passage of that amendment so that there's permanent funding," Wildau urged.

In her State of the State address this week, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham highlighted education, promoting a 7% raise for educators this year, noting the proposal would put New Mexico first in the region for average educator pay.

Colorado and other states are hoarding more than $6 billion intended for struggling families, according to new analysis.

In 2020, Colorado denied more applications for cash assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program than it accepted. Ali Safawi, a research associate at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, said many Colorado families with children are not getting the help they need, even though the state has some $87 million in unspent TANF funds.

"So in Colorado, we see that for every 100 families with kids living in poverty, just 20 receive TANF," he said. "That means that 80 families out of that 100 are not, even though they are experiencing poverty and could really use that assistance."

Welfare reforms passed under the Clinton administration, aimed to help families transition to jobs that would end what critics called a cycle of dependency, gave broad leeway to states for how to use TANF funds. In Colorado, TANF distributions vary greatly depending on which county you live in.

Safawi noted that most Colorado families living in poverty already are working, but at jobs that do not pay a living wage. He added that investing in children's well-being pays off down the road. When families have cash resources to meet their basic needs, their kids do better in school, earn better wages as adults and are more financially self-sufficient.

"We know from a lot of research that giving cash to families who are struggling with very low incomes has a significant difference for children," he said, "and these impacts are not just immediate; we see improvements in their health and their economic outcomes well into adulthood."

He pointed to Columbia University research showing that raising a low-income family's income by just $1,000 a year, about $83 a month, creates more than $10,000 in societal benefits. Safawi said one way to get assistance to more Colorado families is to increase qualifying income limits, which are exceptionally low.

"It's $421 a month for a family of three," he said. "That means if they make over that, they don't qualify. We don't really see income eligibility that low anywhere else outside of the Deep South, which has a long history of limiting assistance primarily to Black families."

Washington state lawmakers are considering a policy which could help close the wealth gap for future generations.

The Washington Future Fund is a policy typically known as "baby bonds" and would allocate $3,200 to children born under the state's Medicaid program Apple Health. They would have access to it between the ages of 18 and 30.

Jennifer Tran, research and policy director for the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, said the policy would help address the racial wealth gap in particular.

"We know that children of color disproportionately represent households that have fewer wealth and assets," Tran observed. "It's really building at the state level a program that would encourage wealth building for kids in Washington state."

Recipients of the one-time benefit would be able to spend it in-state to help pay for a home, post-secondary education or to start a small business. The legislation was requested by the State Treasurer's office and modeled after legislation enacted in Connecticut last year. The House version of the bill, is scheduled for a public hearing today.

In the legislation's current version, the first distributions would go out 18 years from now for children born this year. Tran argued lawmakers should consider more flexibility with how the fund can be used.

"While buying a home and pursuing higher education and starting businesses might be the right mix of opportunities right now, there could be new, emerging ones to consider in the future," Tran pointed out.

The Washington Future Fund would be pooled in an investment fund. According to the State Treasurer's office, there are about 40,000 Apple Health births each year, or about half of the births in the state. A baby bond policy has been proposed at the federal level by Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.