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Today at the weekly Fair Budget Coalition meeting, held at The True Reformer building on U Street the first Wednesday of each month, Budget Director for the Mayor, Eric Goulet and Budget Director for the Council Chairman, Jennifer Budoff stopped by to hear from the organizations represented at the meeting and provide some insider information to the D.C. budget reform.
Goulet distributed copies of the Mayor's press release regarding the budget which can be viewed above this post. Goulet stated that the Mayor wanted the budget to make structural sense and ensure that the government is budgeting in the right place. He stated that the Mayor's office did not want to solve the budget problem through the collection of minor fees and parking tickets, or by targeting any particular group of people. Goulet continued to discuss the top three priorities of the Mayor Office including: 1. A balanced budget that lives within means, 2. Education, specifically Pre-K and focussing on increasing enrollment in D.C. public schools, 3. Jobs, Adult Literacy skills, and beefing up programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Goulet continued to say that Community Colleges will have a great impact in job training and that he wanted to improve the D.C. workforce by getting people into construction jobs, which he felt had been a missed opportunity in the past.
Jennifer Budoff spoke briefly about wanting the Council and Mayor's office to work together in the best way for the District. She gave some important dates to remember; April 1st-Council receives the budget, budget hearings begin on April 6th and end on May 6th. The dates for all of the different budget hearings can be found on the D.C. council's website http://www.dccouncil.washington.dc.us/ Budoff also discussed the top priorities for Chairman Brown which are 1. DC Employment, support needed in Adult Education and Childcare Services, 2. Middle School Education, because of the large drop out rate when children reach middle school age.
I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be a part of this meeting and hear first hand what both the DC Council and Mayor's office had to say regarding budget reform. The biggest thing I took from this conversation was that if you want to ensure that the services you care about do not get cut in the budget you should act NOW! Below is contact information for both Eric Goulet and Jennifer Budoff. If you interested in really digging in to the budget check out dcist.com on Friday's with their budget breakdown. My blogging partner and I are partial to education reform and we will be contacting the D.C. Council and Mayor's Office to raise our concerns. I suggest you all do the same.
-Krystal
Eric Goulet, Budget Director for Mayor Gray- 202-727-3380 eric.goulet@dc.gov
Jennifer Budoff, Budget Director for the Council- 202-724-5689 jbudoff@dccouncil.us
Megan and Krystal, your favorite bloggers- greyinthedark@gmail.com
"Liberation is a praxis:the action and reflection of men and women upon their world in order to transform it"
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