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Guest Editor's Note
It's March madness -- not basketball, but the federal budget! Six months into the 2009 fiscal year, Congress just finalized the overdue omnibus appropriations bill and sent it to President Obama to sign.
Now, it's on to the FY2010 budget. In February, President Obama sent Congress his proposal, which most child/youth advocates are supporting. Congress is currently at work on the Budget Resolution, an outline that sets parameters for the rest of the budget/appropriations process.
Here's the key: whatever the Budget Resolution leaves out is gone for FY2010. Obama's proposal includes revenue-generators to offset spending -- for example, cap-and-trade on carbon pollution, closing corporate tax loopholes, letting many of the Bush administration tax cuts sunset, and ending subsidies to banks for student financial aid. If the final budget does not contain these items along with the spending targets, the chances for getting fiscal responsibility and a good start on health care reform, renewable energy economies and supports for families and communities are slim.
We've got a round up of resources on the budget, below. If you like what you see in the President's plan, you need to let Congressional leaders know. It's a tough job to be fiscally responsible in these tight times, but our choices now will determine how firm our footing is for families and communities in the coming year and beyond.
Also this week: 1 in 50 children is homeless, health care reform takes center stage, and here's a look at what's working (and what's not) when it comes to improving learning.
Jan Richter, CFK Update Editor Emeritus
jan@connectforkids.org
CFK gathers, synthesizes and promotes the best news, research, and stories from the child and youth field. To suggest content, email weekly@connectforkids.org
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Youth in Action: Carmen Berkley, the United States Student Association
 Under the dark cloud of economic recession, states have slashed budgets across the board, resulting in the sharpest college tuition hikes in years. Carmen Berkley knows this firsthand -- and she and her peers are doing something about it at home and at the White House, as Wiretap Magazine's Suemedha Sood reports.
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The Federal Budget Process Kicks Off in Congress
The FY2009 Omnibus and Kids
Better late than never: Congress passed the FY2009 appropriations package and sent it to President Obama to sign (he may do so today, March 11). So what's in it for children and young people? At press time, analyses were still rolling in, but First Focus has a look at the House version.
A Look at President Obama's First Budget
- Every Child Matters has a brief (and very user-friendly!) summary of the budget proposal highlights, and some tools to weigh in.
- First Focus says President Obama's budget proposal marks an increased investment in
American's children and families, increasing total discretionary
spending on children to $74.1 billion, a $3.5 billion increase from
2008.
- Families USA says the proposed $634 billion for health care is a good "down payment" to transform our patchwork system to one of quality, affordable health coverage for all. But it is not a done deal, and there remains work to do to get consensus on the details.
 The National Association of School Financial Administrators says the proposal includes a game-changing approach to student financial aid -- namely, making Pell Grants part of the "mandatory" side of the
budget, with automatic yearly funding and a cost-of-living increase. It would also
eliminate subsidies to banks for student loans programs.
Take Action
Several organizations are sponsoring online tools to let you urge Congress to support the child-friendly principles in President Obama's budget plan:
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Health Care Reform: a Closer Look
Health Care Reform and Children
This Thursday's Child public policy forum hosted by Chapin Hall and the Urban Institute discussed the future of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and how federal and state governments might handle the challenges that will inevitably emerge when the interests of young people are integrated into large-scale health reform.
 Children and SCHIP: How Long Do They Stay and Where Do They Go?
Once families leave SCHIP, they're likely to become uninsured instead of accessing private insurance. This Mathematica Policy Research report reviews differences in several states and finds that SCHIP replaces private insurance at rates far below rates estimated in other studies.
  Expanding Coverage for Dependents
Young adults are one of the fastest-growing groups without health insurance. This report from health advocacy group Community Catalyst proposes changing state laws to allow young people to remain on their parents' health insurance plans beyond age 18.
 Snapshots from the Kitchen Table: Family Budgets and Health Care
Pervasive uncertainty over job security and households teetering on the financial brink, skipping prescriptions, postponing needed medical care, and ill-equipped to cope with unexpected costs like a medical emergency or a necessary home repair. That's the picture of families, even those with insurance, in this Kaiser Family Foundation report.
 Building on Medicaid to Achieve Universal Coverage
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities argues that as the source of comprehensive, affordable coverage for more than 50 million low-income Americans, Medicaid can be a building block of health care reform by strengthening both the private and public health insurance systems and better coordinating them.
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Homelessness & Foreclosures: Impact on Children
Homeless Children: 1 in 50
One of every 50 children in the United States will be homeless this year. A new report from the National Center on Family Homelessness ranks every state in the country on the number of homeless children residing there and how those children are faring.
Children and Foreclosures: The Economic Crisis Hits Home
Foreclosures hit homeowners and renters alike, and also kids -- that's the focus of this March 12 Urban Institute Forum.
San Francisco Model Toolkit to Serve Homeless Youth
 In less than three years, more than 170 communities had adopted the San Francisco model that moves people more quickly toward stable housing by connecting the homeless with "under one roof" services and mobile hospitality volunteers. YEF recommends this online toolkit for cities launching their own Project Homeless Connect Initiative.
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Education News: What Works, What Doesn't
 The Human Context for Teaching Writing
Writing sharpens and clarifies thinking. Yet, in too many schools, especially those overwhelmed by poverty, writing is not about thinking or persuading but about completing fill-in-the-blank activities. The National Council of Teachers of English hopes to change this with an eye to the National Day on Writing (coming in October 20, 2009).
 Brown Center Report: How Well Are American Students Learning?
This set of Brookings Institution reports offers two warnings and a good news story. One report questions an "algebra for all" policy for middle school students, arguing that we don't yet know how to teach algebra to students still struggling with decimals, fractions, and basic arithmetic. A second concludes that without serious reform, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) should not be used to benchmark student progress. The good news is that big city schools have made more significant gains, closing the gap with their suburban and rural counterparts.
 Impact Evaluation on Department of Education Student Mentoring Program
This National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance evaluation of the federally-funded Student Mentoring program found that overall the program did not lead to statistically significant positive impacts. These results may not tell an accurate story, however, since thirty-five percent of the students assigned to the no-mentoring sample received mentoring services from other community providers and 14 percent of the students assigned to the mentoring sample were never matched with a mentor.
First-Grade Math Curricula: What Works Best
Do you know which first-grade math textbook your school uses? A new large-scale federal study of the effectiveness of four early math programs found that while all improved student math achievement, schools using the Math Expressions and Saxon Math had higher results than those using Investigations in Number, Data, and Space and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics.
Carnegie Commentary on Improving Learning by Assessing How Students Learn
If you teach or work with kids, this is one you should take a look at. Bill Cerbin argues that assessing what students have learned is not enough, you have to look at how they learn. He cites a study from 25 years ago that found that calculus students who were performing well were studying together in study groups and tackling the most difficult problems, compared to those who were studying alone.
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Jan Richter and Thaddeus Ferber
Connect for Kids and the Forum for Youth Investment
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