News for Nonprofits, November 2009
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NEWS FOR NONPROFITS connects nonprofits in Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz counties with news and resources. The content provided is for informational purposes; no endorsement is implied.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to other nonprofit leaders in our area. If you have questions about items in this newsletter, state
legislation, or state agencies, or would like to submit an item for the next issue, please do not hesitate to contact Hema
Sareen Mohan, my District Director and Nonprofits Liaison, at (650)
688-6384 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
You can subscribe to this newsletter and access additional resources at www.senatorsimitian.com. To unsubscribe, click the link at the bottom of this email.
Contents:
- Budget update
- Legislative update
- Where you can find me in the district: "Education Update"
- Regional announcements
Budget Update
In the face of declining revenues, legislators and the Governor were compelled to address both 2008-09 and 2009-10 annual budget deficits simultaneously from November 2008 through July 2009. The February and July budget packages that the Legislature passed and the Governor signed with his additional line-item vetoes of $489 million — principally in health and human services — resulted in a total spending plan of $110 billion from the General Fund and special funds for 2009-10, which is $20 billion less than what it was in 2007-08.
The further cuts to safety net services were deeply disappointing and not consistent with the budget agreement that the Legislature delivered to the Governor. Included among those cuts was the elimination of all the domestic violence shelters in our state. The Legislature passed SB 13 (in the Third Extraordinary Session) to restore this funding. The bill, which the Governor signed on October 21, allocates $16.3 million from the state’s Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund to the General Fund as a loan to support domestic violence shelters. The loan is required to be repaid by June 30, 2013.
A $124 million reduction coupled with the Governor’s $50 million line-item veto meant the Healthy Families Program faced a $196 million state funding shortfall in 2009-10, resulting in an enrollment freeze and thousands of children on the Healthy Families’ waiting list. In September, the freeze was lifted because the state is looking to alternative sources of funding to close the shortfall including AB 1422, authored by Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), which will raise an estimated $97 million in 2009-10 by imposing a gross premium tax of 2.35 percent on Medi-Cal Managed Care plans.
As I reported in the last edition of this newsletter, Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) filed a lawsuit against Governor Schwarzenegger in the San Francisco Superior Court, calling into question the legality of all $489 million of his line-item vetoes. The suit was not about an ideological divide, but rather an important assertion of the separation of powers.
Two days after this lawsuit was filed, the Los Angeles-based nonprofit St. John’s Well Child and Family Center et al. filed a similar lawsuit in an Appellate Court, challenging the Governor’s vetoes specifically in the areas of health and human services. The Steinberg v. Schwarzenegger case is being held in Superior Court, pending the outcome of the St. John’s case. Whatever the conclusion of these cases, there is no question that the deteriorating revenue and economic forecasts coupled with steep cuts continue to hurt California’s most vulnerable populations.
On November 18, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, which provides nonpartisan fiscal and policy analysis to the Legislature, released a report that finds the state will face a shortfall of $20.7 billion between now and the end of the 2010-11 budget year. This represents a projected $6.3 billion deficit for 2009-10 and a $14.4 billion gap between projected revenues and spending in 2010-11. Unfortunately, this also means more difficult choices ahead about budget cuts, and further necessitates finding common ground on how to raise revenues. State leaders will have to look to cuts in areas that are not tied to federal spending requirements or matching grants such as social service programs, prisons and state parks.
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Legislative Update
In July of this year, President Obama announced a federal education reform effort as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act called "Race to the Top." This competitive grant program will distribute $4.35 billion, the single largest pool of discretionary funding for education reform in U.S. history, to states that show a commitment to: (1) adopt internationally-benchmarked standards and assessments that prepare students for success in college and the workplace; (2) recruit, develop, retain, and reward effective teachers and principals; (3) build data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practices; and (4) turn around our lowest-performing schools.
To help ensure that California is eligible to compete for these funds, I authored SB 19, which does three things:
- Deletes existing language in state law, which could be deemed by the federal government as preventing the use of pupil data in teacher assignment and evaluation.
- Provides clarity about system linkages between K-12 and pre-K, and between K-12 and higher education, to ensure the state’s longitudinal data system is P-20 comprehensive per the federal requirements.
- Codifies the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to ensure the state’s data system complies with federal requirements.
I was gratified that the Governor signed SB 19 into law on October 11. More recently, I introduced SB 2 (in the Fifth Extraordinary Session), or SBX5 2, which will expand and improve public access to California’s student and teacher performance data systems. The bill would enable independent researchers and community organizations to access data that will help answer questions about student and teacher performance while protecting the privacy of students and teachers.
Whether your first priority is careful use of state dollars or a first-rate education for our kids, we need to know how to spend our limited funds most effectively. With the help of SB 19 and SBX5 2, I hope we can make more informed policy and budget decisions.
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Where you can find me in the District: "Education Update" meeting
I was glad to hear from many of you at one of my 13 sidewalk office hours and five town hall meetings that I hosted over the summer and fall. In addition to these events, I hold "Education Update" meetings to discuss the education aspects of the state budget, and provide an update on K-12 legislation. This helps me stay in touch with the education leaders, community-based organizations and advocates in our region.
The next "Education Update," which is free and open to the public, will be held on Saturday, January 23, 2010 from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm at the Palo Alto Unified School District Office Board Room. The address is 25 Churchill Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306. Click here to RSVP online or call my district office at (650) 688-6384, (408) 277-9460 or (831) 425-0401. I hope you’ll share your questions, concerns, and comments.
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Regional Announcements
- Data on the health and well being of children across California is now more accessible than ever before. Kidsdata.org, a children’s health website developed by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health, just expanded statewide, offering data for all counties, cities, and school districts in California-nearly 1,600 regions. Data are available for dozens of topics measuring the health and well being of children, and much more data will be phased in throughout 2010. Learn how kids in your community are faring at http://www.kidsdata.org.
- December 1 is the deadline for nonprofits and government agencies to apply to take part in the Stanford Public Interest Network (SPIN) which operates a fellowship program that places recent Stanford graduates in full-time paid positions. It seeks to recruit talented students to work in public service and to help organizations find qualified staff. (Fellows are paid a $31,800 stipend plus full health benefits by the participating public-interest organizations.) Students have until February 4, 2010 to apply, then are evaluated and interviewed by SPIN in late February and early March 2010. One to three top students are referred to each organization offering a position, which then interviews the candidates they wish to meet and ranks their choices. In April and May, a SPIN coordinator makes final placement decisions. More information is available at http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/haas/alumni/spin.
- Nonprofits are invited to participate in a free series of five webinars sponsored by the law firm of DLA Piper and others. The series, "Nonprofit Governance & The Revised IRS Form 990" will kick off on December 2 with a webinar about building an independent board. Each webinar is designed to discuss one of the new disclosure requirements of the revised Form 990, which requires nonprofits to describe their governance practices, including how the organizations manage conflicts of interest and set executive compensation. To register, visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/598666041. For more information, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) .
- Many of your clients probably already use CalWORKs (California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, a program of California’s Department of Social Services), which gives cash aid and services to eligible needy California families. Every county has a welfare office, listed under the County Government Section of the telephone book. A family can ask for immediate help if it has little or no cash and needs emergency housing, food, utilities, clothing or medical care. Presentations can be arranged about 4C subsidized child care services (see website at www.4c.org).
- Environmental Volunteers (EV) is seeking volunteers to go into Silicon Valley elementary and middle schools to teach children about nature through hands-on science education that builds on their natural curiosity. The nonprofit has been serving schools in this area for 37 years and taught more than 11,000 students last year. No experience is necessary, but volunteers must love children, nature and learning. Each semester, EV holds a series of volunteer training programs. The next volunteer training is a seven week course called "Explorations in Ecology" and will begin on Friday, January 8. For more information, call Brittany Sabol, education and training coordinator, at (408) 244-2449 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
- RFP applications are due on December 1, 2009, by 4:00 p.m. for the FIRST 5 Santa Clara County Learning Together School Readiness Initiative. Qualified applicants will work with FIRST 5 and its partners to use best practices and early intervention strategies for engaging and increasing the capacity of parents, caregivers and community members to raise children who are healthy, thriving and prepared to enter and succeed in school. RFP applications are available at www.first5kids.org/homepage/rfp or call (408) 260-3700.
- TechSoup, a nonprofit organization that works with corporate donors to provide nonprofit organizations the latest professional hardware, software, and technology services they need, is offering nonprofits the chance to get high-quality refurbished laptops at a discounted price through their Refurbished Computer Initiative Program. Each machine is loaded with Microsoft software and a Windows operating system with a 90-day warranty. Qualifying nonprofits may order up to 10 computers a year. TechSoup’s product donations have helped nonprofits to save over $1.5 billion in technology expenses since 2001. To learn more, visit http://www.techsoup.org/stock/rci/?cg=cetfrcicampaign909.
- College students may be eligible for a tax credit of up to $2,500 for required textbooks and other course materials not covered by scholarships or grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s (ARRA) American Opportunity Tax Credit. See www.textbookaid.org.
- The following are programs for low-income customers (verification of income may be required):
- CARE (California Alternate Rates for Energy) provides a monthly discount of 20 percent for natural gas. Electricity discount depends on customer usage but typically works out to about 50 percent off total rate. Call (866) 743-2272 or go to www.pge.com/care.
- REACH (Relief Assistance through Community Help) is a one-time energy assistance program through the Salvation Army for customers with an unexpected financial hardship. Provides a credit of up to $200 based on a bill’s past-due amount. Available once within an 18-month period. Proof of income required. Call (800) 933-9677.
- FERA (Family Electric Rate Assistance) provides a monthly discount on electric bills only. Go to www.pge.com/myhome/customerservice/financialassistance/fera/.