By Liane Scott, on July 1st, 2013 
Budget season is over. The process takes several months starting with a budget proposed by Mayor Vincent Gray, then hearings in which members of the public comment on the mayor’s proposed budget, an amended budget proposed by members of the city council, a contingency list of items that the Mayor would like to fund but isn’t sure we can afford, etc. Finally, last Wednesday, June 26, 2014 the DC City Council took their final vote on DC’s budget for fiscal year 2014, deciding on behalf of the residents of the District of Columbia how to spend our tax dollars.
As part of Grassroots DC’s mission to provide media coverage of issues that impact the underserved communities of the District of Columbia, we’ve reported on some of the issues in question on this blog. We wanted to cover more but alas, lacked the manpower. (Feel free to take that as a veiled plea to potential contributors.)
Here’s an update, as per DC’s Fiscal Policy Institute, on some of the provisions in the budget that are generally favorable to DC’s low-income and working-class residents:
Help for homeless residents. The FY 2014 budget included many increases in funding to help homeless residents or residents at risk of homelessness. Increases included:
$2.2 million increase in permanent supportive housing, which provides housing to chronically homeless families and individuals. $1.5 million increase in emergency rental assistance, which helps prevent residents from becoming homeless. $400,000 to offer services to single homeless residents to help move them out of shelter quickly and into housing with supportive services. $5 million increase to the Office on Aging, including $3.5 million in operating funds. $1.5 million in capital funds.
Help for vulnerable families and individuals. The FY 2014 budget included two changes to DC’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program that will improve the lives of vulnerable families with children. First, the mayor’s budget included a delay in the benefit cut for families who have been on assistance for longer than 60 months. In addition, the Council also included funding to exempt some families with severe barriers from the time limit. These protections, which most states offer, give families a break from the 60-month time limit on benefits to give them time to deal with serious issues that interfere with their ability to work such as domestic violence, illness, or caring for a family member with a disability.
Help for parents who need child care. The FY 2014 budget increased funding for DC’s Subsidized Child Care program by $11 million. This program pays part of the childcare costs for parents of young children who are in school, working or looking for work but who cannot afford child care. The $11 million will increase the number of spaces available for infants and toddlers in community-based child care programs. It will also increase the reimbursement rates paid to providers by 10%. This is the first increase since 2004.
Help with rising housing costs. The FY 2014 budget includes significant increases to affordable housing. In addition to Mayor Gray’s proposed $100 million for affordable housing, the Council added funds for key affordable housing programs that had not received an increase in the mayor’s proposed budget. Including:
An increase to DC’s Local Rent Supplement Program, which provides rental subsidies to families with very low-incomes. The Council’s budget includes $1.75 million to provide rent vouchers that will help approximately 120 low-income families obtain affordable housing. Increases to Low-Income Property Tax Relief or Schedule H, which is a tax credit for lower-income residents when rents or property taxes are high relative to income. An expanded property tax break for seniors. Under current law, senior homeowners with income under $100,000 qualify for a 50 percent cut in property taxes. The FY 2014 Budget will provide property tax reductions for seniors with incomes between $100,000 and $125,000.
On the flip side, I’m not too happy about the Council’s decision to accept Mayor Gray’s proposal to restore a tax break on income from out-of-state bonds. This will reverse legislation adopted in recent years to phase out the tax break for investments made starting in 2013. DCFPI points out that much of the tax-exempt income in DC is earned by very high-income residents, including some who earn millions from these investments. They proposed phasing out the tax break for wealthy residents while maintaining the exemption for low- and moderate residents. But the Council has proposed allowing all residents to retain the tax break, regardless of income.
On the whole, the DC . . . → Read More: DC’s Budget Season All Wrapped Up
By Sarah Livingston, on June 13th, 2013 
From left to right – Adrian Fenty, Vincent Gray, Kaya Henderson and Michelle Rhee.
Although the injunction that would have stopped the closing of 15 DC Public Schools was denied and we’re still waiting to find out the date for the hearing that will decide the actual merits of the case, it might make sense to remind ourselves of the events that led to the lawsuit in the first place.
In my experience, the seeds for the lawsuit were sown in the first week of January, 2007, when the newly elected Council chair (Vincent Gray) dissolved the Committee on Education and the newly elected mayor (Adrian Fenty) announced his intention to take over the schools.
There was strong opposition to that idea expressed in testimony at the hearings and through protests and demonstrations. There was a call for the matter to be decided by the people in a referendum since a mayoral takeover required a change to the Home Rule Charter that would decrease the people’s power in determining their own affairs for themselves.
By June, Fenty had, through the Public Education Reform Amendment Act of 2007 (PERAA), stolen the power of the people and taken it unto himself. The law further decreased the power of the people by putting the elected Board of Education way over there to the side as an advisory body with little if any power, while the Council’s power to focus on education matters through a committee was weakened to near nothing by being dispersed among all thirteen members.
With the people shoved aside–no more Board of Education responsible for hiring the best qualified school Superintendent and no more Education Committee on the Council–Fenty used his power to appoint into the PERAA created position of “chancellor,” a woman who had never run a public school district before in her life. This too was opposed because the mayor bypassed the provisions of the law that first, required a search committee be formed to find candidates for the position, and second, required that the person be qualified by education and experience. That opposition was ignored as well.
Rhee’s experience in education consisted of attendance at private schools herself, three years of Teach for America experience in a pilot program to test a profit making company’s idea in a Baltimore public school, and 10 years as the founder and president of a teacher placement agency called the New Teacher Project in NYC. Nevertheless, Fenty handed DCPS over to her on a silver platter and the two of them quickly adopted an attitude that DCPS belonged to them in a very private manner and no one else had any say in it. Within two years of the establishment of the Ombudsman’s office, it was “defunded” and never heard about again.
Parents protest the closing of their children’s schools.
Throughout their tenures, opposition arose to many of the actions they took. Hundreds of people, elementary, middle and high school students among them, testified at innumerable Council hearings about the way teachers and their union were being treated–closing 23 schools, budgets that were all over the place, the assignment and reassignment of principles in all manner of nonsensical ways and much, much more. For the most part, the Council’s response was to shrug their shoulders claiming there was nothing they could do.
In 2010, Fenty was defeated by Gray; Rhee left; and Gray, also ignoring the provisions in PERAA for filling the position of “chancellor,” simply calls up Rhee’s Deputy, Kaya Henderson, who had no more idea of how to run a public school system than Rhee. Henderson came from public schools in a middle class suburban district, also got into teaching the Teach for America way and spent 3 years teaching Spanish before she became the Vice-president of the New Teacher Project (NTP). In that position she acquired a contract for NTP with DCPS to place teachers in it and eventually moved to DC to manage the contract on site.
Henderson and Gray have continued what Fenty and Rhee started–keeping the public’s voice out of any say in how the schools are run, despite the fact they they are funded by the public’s money.
The five year report on the mayoral takeover required by PERAA came due in 2012. But it has not been forthcoming. What the public got instead was another so-called Five Year Strategic Plan, “A Capital Commitment” that reads as nothing more than a list of many of the same problems DCPS started . . . → Read More: Events Leading Up To DC Public School Closings Lawsuit
By Liane Scott, on May 20th, 2013 
How much money were you making in 2004? Could you survive on that today? Maybe, maybe not. Might be a stretch but hey, times are tough. How about 27% of what you were making in 2004, could you survive on that? Unless 2004 was a real banner year and you made ten times what you’re making today, maintaining your lifestyle on that money would be impossible. If you were making less than the median income for Washington, DC in 2004, then 27% of that amount won’t even meet your basic needs.
Yet the DC Government refuses to pay child care providers who accept the city’s subsidized child care vouchers, more than 27% of the rate they should have been paid in 2004. Aaron Brooks, owner of Power To Become Child Care Center and Jeffrey Credit, owner of Community Child Development Center are more than a little peeved about the situation. They let the city council know during a day of lobbying at the Wilson Building headed by Empower DC child care organizer Sequnely Gray. The following video lays out their argument.
Despite a $417 million surplus in the city’s budget, Mayor Vincent Gray and the DC City Council are unlikely to increase funding for DC’s subsidized child care program unless someone like you accepts the challenge and makes them change their minds. Contact your city council members and tell them to fund subsidized child care. Here are their phone numbers and email addresses:
Councilmember Phil Mendelson (202) 724-8032 pmendelson@dccouncil.us
At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds (202) 724-8064 abonds@dccouncil.us
At-Large Councilmember David Grosso (202) 724-8105 dgrosso@dccouncil.us
At-Large Councilmember David Catania (202) 724-7772 dcatania@dccouncil.us
At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange (202) 724-8174 vorange@dccouncil.us
Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham (202) 724-8181 jgraham@dccouncil.us
Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans (202) 724-8058 jevans@dccouncil.us
Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh (202) 724-8062 mcheh@dccouncil.us
Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser (202) 724-8052 mbowser@dccouncil.us
Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (202) 724-8028 kmcduffie@dccouncil.us
Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells (202) 724-8072 twells@dccouncil.us
Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander (202) 724-8068 yalexander@dccouncil.us
Ward 8 Councilmember Marion Barry (202) 724-8045 mbarry@dccouncil.us
By Sequnely Gray, on May 20th, 2013 
Child care in Washington DC is vital for a family to work, live, and participate in the community in a positive way. Without proper child care, parents- particularly single parents- may be forced to cut back their work hours, turn down promotions, or even quit their stable jobs. For the children, these early years provide the foundation for their future development; quality child care prepares children for success in school. Child care is increasingly expensive and many families cannot afford it on their own wages. In the District, the average yearly child care cost for an infant/toddler is $18,200. These are clear facts that have been widely documented.
So then why is funding for subsidies continually cut? Why are reimbursement rates for providers so low that they can’t afford to provide high quality care?
Child care advocates all over the District have been working for years to right the funding wrongs of the Office of State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). Funding for the child care subsidy program has been slashed dramatically while the need for these subsidies continues to grow at a steady pace. Last year, the council passed a budget that cut $5.7 million; in the last five years subsidies have been cut nearly $30 million. This is 1,600 families that were unable to participate in the subsidy program. This is 1,600 families who could not get child care.
This year, in the Mayor’s released budget, the child care subsidy/voucher program made it to #1 on his wish list. Child care should not be a “wish” because the money is there. The District has enough funds and new sources of revenue to restore the money that has been taken away from this program.
In fiscal year 2014, the childcare subsidy/voucher program will lose another 1.5 million dollars due to sequestration. This budget cut affects about 80 more families who need childcare subsidies to work, attend school and seek employment. However, the District of Columbia has the money to replace what is being cut. DC has generated over 400 million dollars of extra revenue for the city in the past year but they put all of it in the bank. Meanwhile, parents are still having challenges getting childcare vouchers and their children are missing out on an early start in education. The mayor and his team regularly say how much they care about families and, in particular, vulnerable children in this city. They sure have a funny way of showing it. Now it’s up to the Council to plug the leak in childcare subsidies. We need to restore the lost funding for childcare subsidies and give higher reimbursement rates for childcare providers. Because DC doesn’t work without childcare.
By Liane Scott, on May 13th, 2013 
Tell DC Council to Invest in the Programs that will End Homelessness for DC Residents! Visit this link: http://bit.ly/10bBDQw
As part of the FY 2014 Budget Support Act (BSA), DC Mayor Vincent C. Gray has proposed significant changes to the Homeless Services Reform Act (HSRA), the law governing homeless services in DC. Not only will the proposed changes do little to resolve the crisis of family homelessness, but if enacted, could cause significant harm to homeless residents.
Nearly 200 DC organizations signed on to a letter to the Mayor asking him to withdraw these amendments from the BSA because they had not been vetted by stakeholders and because such significant changes deserve their own legislative process. Councilmember Graham is now leading the effort to remove these amendments (Subtitle D, The Homeless Services Reform Amendment Act of 2013) from the BSA and has introduced them as stand-alone legislation, which will give the public and stakeholders an opportunity for meaningful input.
As Fair Budget members, we know the best way to address homelessness is to ensure that housing is provided right now to DC residents experiencing homelessness, not by implementing changes in the law that could negatively impact both families and individuals.
That’s why we want to tell the DC Council to invest in housing and to support Councilmember Graham’s efforts.
The solution is housing! With a total investment of $8.5 million in the Housing First Program, $10.3 million in tenant-based Local Rent Supplement Program vouchers, we can end homelessness for 300 homeless families, for every DC senior, and for every resident with HIV/AIDS. And an investment of $5.1 million in supportive housing, shelter beds, and wrap-around services will help end homelessness for over 100 chronically homeless youth.
Go to this link to email the DC Council today!: http://bit.ly/10bBDQw
Then Join the Fair Budget Coalition at the following event:
The “ONE CITY NEEDS” Lobby Day Action Wed, May 15TH 10:00am-12:00pm At the Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW)
For more information please email: janelle@fairbudget.org or call 202-328-5513
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