WCCF has just posted a 2010 Report on the use of Juvenile Detention that indicates a slowing but continued decline in the number of youth held in temporary juvenile detention centers – from as many as 14,000 admitted in 2007 to approximately 9,600 youth admitted in 2010. Highlights of interest include:• Consistent with earlier years,...
The state Senate wrapped up work today on a bill enabling Wisconsin to use an estimated $88 million of federal funding to extend unemployment insurance (UI) benefits for up to 13 weeks for the long-term unemployed. The bill, SB 147, could benefit as many as 40,000 Wisconsinites between now and the end of the year. Once the bill is...
For the past month, we’ve been using this series of blog posts, “31 Ways in 31 Days,” to draw attention to some of the ways the recently passed 2011-13 biennial state budget stands to affect children and families in Wisconsin. But let’s be clear: 31 is a rather arbitrary number we picked simply because it coincides conveniently with the...
Earlier in this series, we noted that the state budget is reducing general aid to schools by nearly $750 million over the biennium (see Way #1: Massive Cuts to School Funding Threaten Wisconsin's Tradition of High-Quality Education), and withdrawing more than $45 million in state support for specific programs in Wisconsin school...
It’s a difficult time to get a job, especially a good job. So it’s not surprising that participation in the Wisconsin Works program, W-2, has risen. W-2 helps low-income parents develop a self-sufficiency plan that can include job placements, other work activities, and education and job training. The program works in tandem with...
As noted in “Way #7: Mixed News for Community Health Centers and Dental Health Care” and “Way #9: Extra Cut to Tobacco Use Control Grants”, the budget bill contains cuts to a broad range of public health programs, some of which were lessened by the budget process and some worsened. However, in today’s post we will be discussing the...
In a move that saves very little money, the budget bill eliminates the ability of undocumented but otherwise qualified Wisconsin students to attend college and pay in-state tuition. The change could have a huge impact on students’ ability to attend school. In Wisconsin, undergraduate students residing in the state pay about $8,900 per...
One of the surprising changes to the budget bill was the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) amendment that makes newly unemployed workers ineligible for jobless benefits for the first week of their unemployment. It is expected to reduce benefits paid to unemployment insurance (UI) claimants by between $41 million and $56 million per year,...
Spending for collection of child support by counties will decline by $12.5 million in the 2011-13 biennium. Because counties are being squeezed fiscally from all directions, it’s highly unlikely that they will be able to offset the substantial budget cut. Milwaukee County alone estimated that it would have to cut 38 workers in 2012, or...
The budget bill increases taxes for low-income families in two ways. First, it cuts the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for families with two or more children. Second, it will gradually reduce the Homestead property tax credit by repealing the law that adjusts the size of the credit and the eligibility standards for inflation.The...
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