OHIO

 

The President’s budget makes drastic cuts in funding for programs that matter to families in Ohio. These cuts will shift responsibility for funding these priorities onto the already cash-strapped state. Since Ohio will not be able to provide the same level of services with less federal funding, the budget cuts will force the state either to reduce funding for schools and leave more people hungry, homeless, cold and uninsured, or to raise state taxes. 

 

 

EDUCATION: The President’s budget would reduce funding for education and training programs in Ohio in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger in later years. No program, including K-12, will be spared. 

 

• Ohio will lose more than $401 million in total elementary and secondary education spending[1];
• Funding for special education programs will be cut by almost $288 million in Ohio;
• Ohio school improvement programs will lose more than $135 million; and

• Vocational and adult education programs will be cut by almost $216 million in Ohio.

 

FAMILY SERVICES: Programs providing needed services to low-income families in Ohio face major cuts in 2006, with the cuts getting bigger over time. Under the President’s budget proposal, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), programs for abused and neglected children, Head Start, and child care assistance programs all face steep cuts.

 

• Ohio will lose more than $20 million in WIC funding, and 22,500 people will be cut from the program;
• In Ohio, Children and Family services (including Head Start and programs for abused and neglected children) would lose almost $124 million; 
• 1,065 children in Ohio will lose access to Head Start in 2006[2], and 5,000 will lose access to the program in 2010; and

• In Ohio, 12,600 children will lose child care assistance in 2009.

 

HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: The President’s budget targets housing and community development programs in Ohio for funding cuts in 2006 and beyond. 

 

• 15,500 families in Ohio will lose rental assistance vouchers;
• The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) will be cut by $8.5 million in Ohio; and

• In Ohio, Community Development programs will be cut by almost $395 million. 

 

HEALTH: The budget would cut funding in Ohio for HIV/AIDS treatment services, including funding to help those with HIV/AIDS purchase drugs.  President Bush has also proposed major cuts to the Medicaid program in Ohio. 

 

• Ohio will lose almost $7 million in HIV/AIDS funding;
• Medicaid funding for Ohio will be cut by more than $1.8 billion[3]; and 

• 78,600 children or 8,100 seniors in Ohio could be covered by the Medicaid funding cuts proposed in 2010. 

 

PENTAGON: While taxpayers in Ohio would lose local services, they will pay increasingly more for the Pentagon.

 

• Ohio will spend almost $723 million for the proposed increase in military spending[4]; and
• $5.7 billion of what Congress has so far allocated for the Iraq War will come from Ohio.