“Some really drastic cuts were proposed, but fortunately, some of the funding was restored,” said Carol Willis, executive director of the Rome-Floyd County Commission on Children and Youth.
The school nutrition program may have taken one of the largest cuts, according to Willis. Some $12.9 million was sliced from the program, a 36 percent slash in state funds, and $1.6 million was cut from the school nurses program. However, Willis said that was less than the $2.3 million that had been originally proposed for reduction.
Funding for the Communities in Schools program was cut more than $242,000. The money was used for training and technical assistance for the effort to get communities more closely aligned with local schools.
Willis applauded action by the legislature to ease the zero tolerance rules for weapons other than guns found on school property. She told the Rome Kiwanis Club on Monday that she understands the scenario where a young man could have been hunting over the weekend and left a knife in the bed of his truck. Under the zero tolerance policy, that same student could have been expelled.
Floyd County Juvenile Judge Tim Pape told the Kiwanis Club that the legislature’s efforts to deal with budget shortfalls in recent years have had many detrimental effects on youth programs across the state.
Pape said that putting such a high priority on placing children with extended family members instead of into foster care looks good on paper, but reality can be very different.
Pape also suggested that a decrease in child deprivation cases was related to staffing shortages and not the result of dramatic improvements in parenting across the state.
He said that in his 28 years on the bench, only once has a local lawmaker ever called to ask for his thoughts about pending legislation. He identified that lawmaker as state Sen. Preston Smith of Rome.
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