PPOD 8/16/09: The Back to School Cash Debacle

Ya gotta love this.

According to this article in my local newspaper, chaos ensued when the government decided to send food stamp and public assistance recipients a $200 bonus for each child in the household between the ages of three and seventeen. Grocery stores gave out tons of cash back, ATMs were emptied, and hundreds lined up at the DSS office when their benefit cards went on the fritz.

The suggested use for the money was to purchase back to school items such as clothing or school supplies, as indicated in the letter sent to recipients . But the only ‘mandatory’ thing the letter calls out is that there’s some sense of urgency in tapping into the cash, because ‘this payment may expire if your cash account is not accessed within 90 days.’ As if there was any chance that would happen.

It’s also interesting to note that, per the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance the matching portion of the money from the Federal Stimulus program specifically could not be used to provide support to organizations who give school supplies to kids – it could only be sent directly to public assistance beneficiaries. Here in Onondaga County, 21,000 people received $4.2 million; statewide, there were over 813,000 'eligible' kids (39% upstate, 61% NYC-area) in about 433,000 PA/food stamp cases. Some of them may not yet have gotten their letter telling them why they were getting the windfall.

From the right, skepticism and dismay was quick, including this from the newly reform-minded, bipartisan Republicans: “The grants announced today by Governor Paterson would be given out regardless of whether a welfare recipient complied with work and other requirements or whether a child was enrolled in school, attending school or even dropped out…”

On the flip side, from the Dems, we get lots of pap about how this is a great idea, including these glowing comments from our Senators:

• U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer said: “This funding is a smart investment in the futures of our students. Each $200 grant will provide access to much-needed resources and back-to-school supplies so that our students are prepared and ready to learn on their very first day of class.”


• U.S. Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand said: “Nothing is more important for our children and for the future of our State than a good education. I am humbled and proud to see leaders at all levels coming together to deliver the resources that our children need for school in these tough economic times. Together, we are working to arm the children of this State with the tools they need for a strong start to the new school year.”

So – the government and an extremely generous billionaire combine to hand out money which people can spend on school supplies, if they want, or they can spend it on whatever else they have a hankering for.

But what are regular folks doing? They’re collecting and handing out school supplies! A quick Internet search and I was able to find these, from different areas across the state:

• For the eighth time, a local woman in Syracuse has coordinated a giveaway that benefits thousands of kids.
  
• The NAACP in Elmira is purchasing supplies and hoping to help around 100 school kids in the Southern Tier.
  
• The New York Liberty basketball team collected supplies at a game and is donating them to a Manhattan homeless shelter.
  
• This group in the Utica area, who has handed out over 30,000 backpacks in the past few years, cannot afford to do as much this year, but will still donate 300 this year, to a refugee center.
  
• An Eagle Scout in Rochester is collecting supplies for several local schools .

And of course, hundreds of business, like my evil health insurance company, are collecting supplies for their adopted schools or other community organizations.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean to imply that every single family who got this free money immediately turned around and bought big screen TVs, or the bling of the day, or steaks and lobster – I’m sure there are many families who either used this money to purchase back to school items, or pay bills, and that’s fine. Heck, from an economic standpoint, it’s fine if they bought big screen TVs – I guess any money spent in a slow economy is good money, and something that benefits all of us.

What I do have a problem with is simply throwing money around, without any accountability. How much better could this program have been if instead of cash to individuals, they had purchased the actual school supplies and handed them out through churches, schools, youth groups, social services departments, and so on? Or provided the money to organizations that could have then spent the money purchasing the supplies and ensuring that they made it into the hands of the kids that the program aimed to serve?

I'm donating school supplies this week at work; I hope you'll do the same if you have the chance. What I won't be doing, however, is standing on a corner handing out cash to anyone who walks by. I'll save that for the politicians. And hopefully, we'll have the chance to vote them out of office before all of the money is gone.