Oklahoma Welfare Project Will Penalize Those Who Skip School
Children and teen-age parents in Oklahoma will be required to stay in school as a condition of collecting welfare under a federal demonstration project approved Tuesday.
The demonstration, which required a waiver of federal regulations governing the Aid to Families With Dependent Children program, will begin Feb. 2 and last for three years. It was approved by Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala.
It is the latest in a string of state experiments with welfare reform that seek to force children and teen-age parents receiving benefits to stay in school or keep up to date on their immunizations. Other demonstrations attempt to encourage work and training or to discourage women already on the rolls from having more children.
According to the state’s waiver application, the purpose of Oklahoma’s Learnfare program is to encourage and promote school attendance for AFDC children and teen-age parents from the time they reach age 13 until they turn 18, graduate from high school or obtain a GED equivalency diploma.
After two warnings for missing school, children and teen-age parents whose attendance slips below 80% will face a reduction in their family’s monthly AFDC check.
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