Reestablished Governor’s Office for Children proposes Enough grant program; DLS urges smaller first‑year award

Madeline Miller, a budget analyst for the Department of Legislative Services, opened the session on the Governor's Office for Children with a historical summary and line‑by‑line budget analysis. She said the office was reestablished by executive order on Jan. 18 and will be led by a special secretary to coordinate the Children's Cabinet and oversee the Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund.

Miller told the subcommittee the fiscal 2025 allowance includes a proposed fiscal 2024 deficiency appropriation of $756,000 to support the transfer of eight positions into GOC, four of which were moved from the governor's Office of Crime Prevention and Policy (GOCPP) and are already filled. DLS said roughly $25.9 million in operating expenses and grant funding from two GOCPP programs (the children and youth division and the Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund) are budgeted in FY24 and will move to GOC in FY25; absent those transfers, the FY25 allowance would grow by approximately $16 million.

On proposed new programming, Miller summarized the Enough Act and its grant structure: neighborhood implementation grants, regional implementation grants up to $500,000 per year for up to three years, and planning grants up to $300,000. The analyst said $15 million of the governor's FY25 allowance is contingent on passage of the Enough Act and recommended that the budget language reference the bill numbers. DLS recommended reducing the initial $15 million appropriation to $5 million, citing concerns that a newly reestablished office would have limited time to develop program requirements, regulations, and outreach to fully award funds in the first year.

Carmel Martin, special secretary for the Governor's Office for Children, disagreed with DLS's recommended cut. "We believe strongly that the level of funding proposed by the governor is appropriate and can be effectively deployed in the program's first year," Martin said, adding the office is preparing program requirements, applicant tools, and stakeholder outreach and plans to make awards in the second quarter of FY25. Martin described the Enough initiative as a neighborhood‑level cradle‑to‑career approach to tackling concentrated generational poverty and said about half of first‑year funds would support planning and capacity building.

On personnel matters, DLS asked about reclassification of the four positions provided in FY25; GOC officials said they are preparing reclassification documents and working with the Department of Budget and Management to fill positions immediately after budget passage. DLS also recommended increasing the budgeted turnover assumption for those positions from 0% to 25% to align with standard expectations; GOC said it plans rapid recruitment and filling of positions.

DLS raised questions about the out‑of‑home placements report and recommended adding budget language to withhold certain agency funds if the 2024 out‑of‑home placements report is not submitted. Christina Dershell Williams of GOC said the office reviewed the cases labeled 'unknown' in the initial visualization, worked with the Department of Human Services, and found that 36 previously listed as unknown were identified in raw data and corrected on the online dashboard; DHS attributed the earlier 'unknown' status to a coding error in CJAMS and is addressing data integrity issues.

The subcommittee put several technical questions to DLS and GOC staff about the age ranges covered in out‑of‑home statistics, jurisdictional rate differences, and implementation timing for the Enough program. DLS offered to follow up with MSDE on truancy and related K‑12 indicators. The GOC said it will provide additional details on program rules and outreach plans as it stands up the Enough initiative.

The subcommittee took no formal votes on the Enough funding during the hearing; staff and members signaled they will continue oversight in follow‑up work and budget negotiations.