New Jackson Hewitt Analysis Only Captures Part of the Full Cost for WI EmployersA report issued last week estimates that employers in states that don't expand Medicaid will pay up to $1.3 billion in additional federal taxes. As Jason Stein reports in an article posted late today on the Journal Sentinel website, the analysis by the...
The Wisconsin Budget Project has prepared a number of short papers about various aspects of the 2013-15 budget bill, and we’re working on a couple more. You can find those papers and much more on the "All Things Budget" part of the Budget Project’s website. We’re using a different format this session. Instead of creating one...
Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal related to child care and early learning is disappointing. For those hoping for a significant strengthening of YoungStar and adjustments in Wisconsin Shares payment policies will find little to cheer about, except for a modest change in the YoungStar tiered reimbursement system.
With the recent release from the Annie E. Casey Foundation about the significant decline in incarceration and crime rates of youth, there is much good news. Fewer kids are being arrested, fewer are being locked up, more alternatives are being developed, and our communities are safer. Less clear is the reason for the decline(s) and given...
Wisconsin’s first-ever comprehensive report detailing the costs of excessive alcohol use was released today by Health First Wisconsin and its partners. It estimates that excessive alcohol use cost Wisconsinites $6.8 billion a year in 2012, or approximately $1,200 a person. Taxpayers pick up more than 40 percent of the costs, or...
The Governor’s budget proposes partially closing the current gap in BadgerCare by extending eligibility to all adults below the poverty level who don’t have children, and we commend the Governor for that. However, the Governor’s budget stops short of the step states need to take (covering adults to 133% of FPL) to qualify for full...
Two years ago the Wisconsin Legislature approved YoungStar with strong bipartisan support. This was a prudent investment to improve early learning for children from low-income working families receiving Wisconsin Shares subsidy payments.
Wisconsin is among the many states in which the rate and number of youth confined in institutions has dramatically declined over the past decade. This trend is highlighted in a recent release from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, titled Reducing Youth Incarceration in the United States. While still confining youth at higher rates than...
Often as we work with youth in the juvenile justice system, we find out too late that they are dealing with undiagnosed mental health challenges. Child Trends recently released three briefs in the Adolescent Health Highlights series. These briefs, which focus on issues related to adolescent mental health, highlight that:Resiliency has a...
Another Head Start Impact Study is leading to discussions about the effectiveness of the program. The latest study, Third Grade Follow-up to the Head Start Impact Study Final Report, is a third grade follow-up to the earlier Head Start Impact Study final report.The overall findings can be summed up in two parts, which seem...
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