PCSAO urges House to restore critical budget funds

PCSAO’s Executive Director, Angela Sausser, testified on Sub. HB 33 today before the House Finance Committee, expressing appreciation that the committee maintained the Administration’s proposed increase in the State Child Protection Allocation (SCPA) and funding for multi-system youth, along with concern that key programs would be affected by cuts made in the substitute bill.

Sausser focused on Line Item 830506, Family and Children Services (found within the new Department of Children and Youth). The line was cut by $28 million in SFY24 and by $25 million in SFY25. “These proposed cuts mean that children, youth and families will not have access to these programs and supports that help children remain safely in their own homes, or with kin, and be successful when they leave foster care,” Sausser testified. “The next two years are pivotal for Ohio’s children services system. We must maintain the proposed investments for children services as introduced in the Executive Budget.”

While the substitute bill maintained an overall increase in this line item, the cuts shrink that increase and will impact key programs housed within, including supports for kinship caregivers, Ohio START, prevention services, and supports for youth aging out of foster care and entering young adulthood.

Read Sausser’s full testimony.

Watch the testimony on the Ohio Channel (first witness).