Announcement: 6th Annual State Budget Forum: Big Challenges, Bold Ideas

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6th Annual State Budget Forum: Big Challenges, Bold Ideas

Please RSVP for Connecticut Voices for Children's 6th Annual State Budget Forum!

When: Wednesday, January 31, 8:30 am - 1 pm
(8:30 registration & coffee, 9 am - 1 pm program, lunch provided)

Where: Old Judiciary Room, State Capitol, Hartford

The theme of this year's Budget Forum is "Big Challenges, Bold Ideas," and we'll feature presentations on many of the ambitious policy proposals that are being developed for Connecticut - by those who have helped develop them.

Topics and speakers (order of speakers may change):

Benchmarking Connecticut
Jeff Blodgett, CT Economic Resource Center

Budget Overview & K-12 Education Funding
Secretary Robert Genuario, Office of Policy and Management

State Fiscal Capacity
Douglas Hall, CT Voices for Children

Transportation
Oz Griebel, CT Transportation Strategy Board & MetroHartford Alliance

Smart Growth
Heidi Green, 1000 Friends of CT
W. David LeVasseur, Governor’s Office for Responsible Growth

Energy
Carrie Conaway, New England Public Policy Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston

Affordable Housing
Diane Randall, Partnership for Strong Communities

Health Care
Juan Figueroa, Universal Health Care Foundation of CT
Bob Patricelli, CT Health Insurance Policy Council

Early Childhood
John Rathgeber, CT Business and Industry Association
Janice Gruendel, Governor’s Senior Advisor on Early Childhood
Louise Stoney, Alliance for Early Childhood Finance

Event flier

Space is limited - reserve your seat today! Lunch will be served!

Please RSVP to Ryan McAuliffe at rmcauliffe AT ctkidslink.org (replace AT with @) or (203) 498-4240 x199.

Directions to the Capitol.

In case of inclement weather, please call CT Voices at (203) 498-4240 ext 199

CT Voices for Children’s work on tax and budget issues is supported by the Melville Charitable Trust, The Stoneman Family Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, and the CT Health Foundation.

Bars Over Books: Connecticut's General Fund Spending on Corrections Outpaces Its Spending on Higher Education

A recent national study finds that Connecticut is one of just four states that spend a greater proportion of their General Fund budgets on corrections than they invest in higher education. For every $1.00 of the General Fund budget that was spent on higher education in Fiscal Year 2007, Connecticut spent $1.03 on corrections. This has not always been the case according to CT Voices' new issue brief. Twenty years ago (in FY 87), Connecticut spent only 35 cents on corrections for each $1.00 spent on higher education. Connecticut's incarceration rate now exceeds all other New England states, as well as 25 of the 26 European countries with the largest inmate populations. Further, while the population in Connecticut's state-run prisons grew by 61% between 1993 and 2007, the number of full-time equivalent students attending its public college and universities grew by just 26%.

Spending on our corrections system is largely reactive and represents an approach to state governance that unfortunately is endemic across multiple systems of Connecticut's state government. Rather than planning proactively and investing adequately in the programs and services that promote good outcomes for children and youth through education, prevention programs, higher education opportunities and family supports, Connecticut instead pays at the "back end" to incarcerate and attempt to rehabilitate its residents.

Download this publication from Connecticut Voices for Children.

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