 | Bob Gabordi is executive editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and Tallahassee.com. He can be reached through this blog, at bgabordi@tallahassee.com or (850) 599-2177 |
Lawmakers and other politicians are fond of saying that government should be run like a business, watching expenses and revenues carefully, making sure there is a healthy bottom line.
When it comes time to cut the budget, they say, they must make the hard decisions, comparing their work to that of families trying hard to make ends meet with fewer dollars.
They would have us believe that they run government with the efficiency of a business and balance the budget with the care of a family.
Who do they think they are fooling?
A series of stories this week in the Tallahassee Democrat is examining the status of children across Florida and how they are faring in the Legislature. It is a first step in trying to hold lawmakers and other government officials accountable for their votes on children’s issues, which rarely get this kind of attention in the state media.
After this session, we’ll announce a list of children’s heroes and villains based on how they voted and what issues lawmakers supported.
If government were truly being run as a business, the managers would see the state’s children not as expenses to be cut, but as investments with high rates of return. They would be nurtured as a way to obtain greater future wealth, avoid even bigger future expenses and the best way to grow the bottom line.
If government truly faced the task of cutting with the same care that families do, cutting things for our children would be the last place most moms and dads would go. My mom would have gone hungry herself – and probably did on more than one occasion – rather than send us off to school without proper clothing or the paper and pencils we needed to achieve success. We were poor, but my mom made sure we had our medical needs taken care of.
With infants in this state dying at alarming rates, state lawmakers are considering eliminating Healthy Start programs designed to keep babies alive. House Health Care leader Republican Denise Grimsley, in an interview with our reporter Jim Ash, explained the decision this way: “pregnancy is a choice.”
Excuse me, but it’s not a choice for the child.
Infant mortality rates in Florida are abysmal, especially for black babies. Here is the reality: For every 1,000 babies born in Florida, more than 7 won’t reach their first birthday. For black babies, the infant mortality rate can be as high as 2.5 times the number of white babies.
A choice?
It’s not just Healthy Start under siege in the Legislature; it’s children’s programs in general. Lawmakers have raided children’s trust funds even as cutting funding for our kids’ education and health.
Sen. President Jeff Atwater, who wants to be able to get elected the state’s chief financial officer by telling voters he cut our taxes, suggests children’s programs are no different than any others, and lots of programs are getting cut.
Running government like a business? Study after study has shown that investing in children’s programs upfront saves several times that in the long haul by reducing demands on the health-care system, helping children succeed in school and keeping children out of the juvenile justice system. Businesses that won’t invest in their future end up out of business, but that won’t happen in government.
Meanwhile, children’s advocates complain that they don’t get the kind of access to leadership as the big-money corporate lobbyists.
In October, I facilitated a public forum on issues facing children sponsored by the Children’s Campaign. In closing the session, I said the problem is that parents today tend to focus too much of our time on teaching our children to play nicely and modeling good behavior. Maybe our kids would be better served if we acted up a little, teaching them about their rights to assembly and to redress grievances to our government.
Playing nicely hasn’t gotten children in this state – or their parents – much of anywhere. That is, unless you consider it OK for thousands – one estimate is 17,000 – of children with disabilities to have to wait for state services.
Next week is an opportunity for parents to change the equation: It’s Children’s Week at the Capitol. It’s an opportunity for advocates of children’s issues to let lawmakers know what they think and to allow them to hear firsthand from our kids.
You can send your comments by clicking the button below, e-mailing me at bgabordi@tallahassee.com, sending a private message on Tallahassee.com, Twitter @bgabordi, LinkedIn or Blogger.com. You can also find links to my blogs on Facebook but you have to request to be my friend.
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