California’s performance ranking in five key areas, including health care, dropped a grade on the annual report card issued by Children Now, leaving the Golden State with its most tarnished marks in the 20-year history of the advocacy group’s rating system.
Due mainly to brutal cuts in the state’s FY09-10 budget by the Legislature and the governor in children’s programs, California “earned the worst grades ever” for 2009, said Ted Lempert, president of Children Now. Lempert, a former state legislator, summed up the state’s dire performance during a legislative briefing held in the Capitol on Monday afternoon for staff members of the Legislature.
Still, Lempert, joined by vice president Wilma Chan and Kelly Hardy, associate director of health policy for Children Now, tried to emphasize the possibilities for improvement in coming budget discussions. “There are lots of opportunities to move forward this year on children’s health,” Hardy told the group. The silver lining in getting California’s children through the tough budget cuts last year came in the form of an unprecedented financial boost from the federal government.
The increase in federal matching funds did not pull California out of its economic doldrums, however; it merely helped keep pace somewhat with the increased need