Raising our voices for children, families and schools

Healthy Schools Campaign is speaking out on key threats to public schools, vulnerable populations and nonprofit organizations that are being put forth by Republican lawmakers as the U.S. House of Representatives moves forward with its massive tax package proposal. This is an important time to shine a light on the devastating impact these proposals will have on children, families and schools, and engage with and educate policymakers. It is clear that the overall goal of these proposals, through massive cuts and onerous red tape, is to make it extremely hard or impossible for children, families and schools to participate in and fully benefit from critical federal programs.

As always, HSC is leading in some areas and adding its support to efforts led by partners and coalitions. We are looking comprehensively at the proposals included in the package, but want to highlight the following.

Medicaid provides essential health services for millions of children and families, and is an enormous source of funding for public schools. The current proposed changes to Medicaid will leave millions without health coverage, create much higher costs for states, and result in highly burdensome eligibility requirements. This red tape will make it difficult for families to successfully enroll and maintain enrollment in Medicaid, and very costly for individual states to implement the program. In addition, the current proposal would punish states that provide coverage to undocumented residents. HSC is helping lead efforts to preserve school Medicaid. For resources and action alerts, please visit our resource page.

SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is a key anti-poverty program that provides support to millions of children and families across the United States, and is the main food assistance program for children from low-income families. SNAP participation has been shown to support health and healthy futures for children. Funding for the program is currently provided through a 50/50 split between the federal government and states, and House Republicans are proposing a new formula that cuts federal funding by half and puts more administrative costs on states.

These changes to SNAP will be devastating to the program, as many states are not in a position to pick up that additional cost. Historically, SNAP enrollment has served to meet the eligibility requirement for free and reduced school meals and Medicaid, so reductions in SNAP participation will also result in greater barriers to participation in other safety net programs. Click here to add your voice and educate your Congressional Representatives about the harmful effects of cuts to SNAP.

Weakening public schools. The tax bill would fund a $5 billion private school voucher program that would ultimately result in less funding for public schools as it incentivizes families to move to private schools. This proposal has many negative implications, including the fact that it would fundamentally destabilize our public school system, disproportionately benefit wealthy families and bring vulnerable families to private schools that are not required to support students with disabilities and other health needs.

The tax bill also includes threats to the tax status of nonprofit organizations that could severely undermine organizations’ abilities to effectively advocate and do their mission-focused work. The proposed language would allow the executive branch to strip nonprofit organizations of their tax status without due process. Educate your representatives about the threats this proposal could cause.

This is a complicated and fast moving process, but it is more important than ever to engage with and educate members of Congress. The proposed cuts will devastate vulnerable families and schools and plunge millions of children into poverty.