Disability Thrive Initiative

While Governor Brown’s budget includes a historic investment in schools, boosts for the Rainy Day Fund, and the creation of new State Earned Income Tax Credits, after weeks of legislative outreach and budget hearings, capitol rallies, and the support of over half the legislature for Senator Beall’s letter of support, the Lanterman Coalition call for a 10%  increase for community services funding comes up short. To see the Department of Developmental Services (DDS)  and the Association of Regional Center Agencies (ARCA) analyses, click the documents below:

Analysis of May Revision for FY 2015-16

DDS 2015-16 DOF May Rev Summary

Gov. Jerry Brown’s updated budget released Thursday calls for closing Sonoma Developmental Center by 2018 and spending nearly $50 million to transition residents into community-based homes and programs.

The proposals represent the latest threats to the Eldridge facility, which is battling declining admissions, licensing problems and calls to shut down to save taxpayer money. Read more.

Labels or instructions would have to be available in one of at least five other languages, upon a patient’s request. Those languages are Chinese, Vietnamese, Spanish, Korean or Russian.

“We know from research that patients can often misunderstand the prescription medication information, and for limited English proficient patients, these misunderstandings can be much more severe and much more frustrating,” says Kimberly Chen of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, a supporter of the bill. Read more.

After flip-flopping in recent years, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s agency is clarifying what’s expected of schools in terms of special education funding. (U.S. Department of Education/Flickr)
With a new rule, federal education officials are telling schools not to skimp on funding for special education.
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, schools are required to spend at least as much on special education as they did the prior year. Read more.

Research has shown that more than 60 percent of children who have been in foster care at least two years have moved two or more times in the system. Parent-child match is still a problem in the child welfare system. There is little room for foster youth to have their voices heard. Read more.

Los Angeles County and state officials are preparing to realign nursing home inspection and oversight duties as part of a drive to better manage a chronic backlog of investigations into complaints of abuse and neglect. Read more.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) —A California Senate committee has approved a bill that would require schoolchildren to be vaccinated.

The Senate Education Committee voted 7-2 Wednesday on the bill by Sen. Richard Pan, a Democratic pediatrician from Sacramento, with votes from both Democrats and Republicans. The proposal would eliminate California’s personal-belief and religious exemptions so unvaccinated children would not be able to attend public or private schools. Read more.