CHILD WELFARE

• Ensure that children and youth in the care of the Department of Children and Families are placed with their siblings unless separation is in their best interest. 
• Ensure that children and youth in the care of the Department of Children and Families who do not live with their siblings have the right to visit their siblings at least once per week, unless such visitation is not in the children’s best interest.
• Ensure that children in the care of the Department of Children and Families are placed in family-based care (rather than congregate care) unless medical necessity requires institutional care.
• Preserve and expand the array of services available to youth aged 18-21 aging out of the child welfare system, including educational, housing, health and workforce supports.
• Promote compensation models that encourage high quality legal representation for all children and youth in Connecticut’s child welfare system.

EARLY CARE

• Defend against cuts to early care and education.
• Increase rates for Care4Kids, the state’s child care subsidy program, to achieve equity with the state’s other early care and education programs.
• Align minor parent eligibility requirements for Care4Kids with the eligibility requirements for the state’s other early care and education programs (which do not consider the income of grandparents in determining the minor parent’s eligibility or required fee contribution).
• Ensure that any changes to the date of kindergarten eligibility are made only in conjunction with changes that would ensure that all children currently eligible for kindergarten continue to have access to a free and appropriate public education.

ECONOMIC SECURITY

• Adopt measures to reduce child poverty to 5.4% by 2014.
• Increase retention among racial/ethnic minorities in higher education institutions
• Promote policies that foster small business ownership among racial/ethnic minorities.
• Support state funding of community colleges in order to increase economic opportunities for the lowest-income households.
• Index Connecticut’s minimum wage to inflation to support working families’ incomes and provide predictability to employers going forward. 

HEALTH

• Maintain eligibility and benefit improvements for children and families under Medicaid and HUSKY.
• Adopt program improvements that will enhance federal matching funds and improve coverage, access and quality of care for families and children in Medicaid and HUSKY.
• Ensure that policy changes adopted under state and federal health reform initiatives promote the health and economic well-being of children and their families.
• Continue to educate lawmakers on the retention problems in HUSKY and its implications for unnecessary administrative costs, access to care and the broader state and federal health reform initiatives.
• Extend Medicaid to age 26 to young adults who were formerly foster youth or under the custody of the Department of Children and Families. (Under state and federal law young adults may remain on their parents’ health insurance plans until the age of 26; federal law does not extend such coverage to former foster youth until 2014).
• Maintain funding for independent performance monitoring of the HUSKY Program. 

JUVENILE JUSTICE

• Preserve and expand services for children involved in the juvenile justice system.
• Monitor expansion of juvenile court jurisdiction to 17 year olds and review service provision to 16 and 17 year olds newly in the juvenile system. 
• Encourage positive school climate initiatives and the reduction of exclusionary school disciplinary practices.
• Improve data collection and reporting for school based arrests and diversions. 
• Improve transparency and quality of alternative schools and programs. 
• Encourage implementation of truancy reduction policies. 

K-12 EDUCATION

• Improve accuracy, transparency, and equity of education finance formulas.
• Modify education finance formulas to use data sources that better reflect town resources and needs.
• Require a “common chart of accounts” for reporting by all municipalities and school districts.

STATE TAX AND BUDGET

• Institute regular tax incidence reporting and push for a tax commission to analyze the state and local tax codes and propose reforms that make them fairer, more transparent, and more efficient. Potential reforms include:
  • Removing tax loopholes and distortions and using the savings to lower rates
  • Reducing overreliance on and imbalances in the property tax
  • Ensuring the business tax code does not over-charge job creators while under-charging job shedders
• Propose and/or support initiatives to increase transparency, accountability, and stability in the state budget. Potential reforms include:
  • Posting an Excel version of the state budget online
  • Increasing the Budget Reserve Fund
  • Sending a “taxpayer receipt” to taxpayers that shows where their tax dollars go
• Oppose cuts that undermine the state’s economic viability and quality of life, particularly those in early care, education, and safety net programs, as well as proposals that shift costs to cities and towns, or to future generations.
• Work with federal, state, and local officials to ensure that Connecticut maximizes the receipt and impact of federal funding, particularly in areas such as Medicaid, unemployment insurance, and education.
• Increase the state’s capacity to coordinate agency actions, find efficiencies, and set a clear direction by restoring the planning capacity at the Office of Policy and Management.

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