On February 3rd, 2014 Governor Bill Haslam presented his State of the State Address before a Joint Convention of the Tennessee General Assembly.
The biggest news in the headlines this morning was about Governor Haslam's "Tennessee Promise" that every Tennessee student will be able to attend two years of community college or technical school "absolutely free."
The biggest news to us at the Tennessee Disability Coalition went unsaid in the Governor's speech. The Governor's proposed budget includes full funding for the Tennessee Family Support Program at this year's $7.2 million dollar level.
Like this year, this means that over 4,000 individuals across the state will receive vital services through the Family Support Program in their own home or community.
The Governor's budget also preserved funding for the Mental Health Peer Support Centers. Peer Support Centers are consumer-directed centers where consumers develop their own programs to supplement existing mental health services. There are 45 Peer Support Centers across our state that will continue to serve Tennesseans with mental illness or a co-occurring disorder next year.
We are continuing to analyze the Governor's budget and funding allocations within the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. However, it does appear that there will be funding for two positions to assess needs and begin planning future programs for Tennesseans with developmental disabilities as proposed by Commissioner Payne.
Unfortunately, programs for adolescent treatment have been converted to nonrecurring funding, and they are NOT represented in the budget the Governor introduced. The children and youth served in these programs have disabilities and are at risk for failure without appropriate supports and services.
The preliminary budget for fiscal year 2014-2015 has been published online at: http://www.tn.gov/finance/bud/documents/2015BudgetDocumentVol1.pdf