The Opt Out Update: Portland students plan to walk out of test, Tennessee lawmakers want to starve children for not doing well on tests, really, student data collection “unnecessary and Orwellian” and the push back gains momentum
When will the corporate ed reform madness end?
Melissa Harris Perry
Parents who receive TANF benefits would see their payments reduced by 30 percent if their children perform poorly in school.
Tennessee lawmakers have proposed an absurd bill that would punish parents who receive welfare benefits if their children perform poorly in school.
Republican State Sen. Stacey Campfield and Republican State Rep. Vance Dennis introduced legislation in late March that would reduce payments to parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families by 30 percent if their children do not make “satisfactory progress” in school.
Because why would lawmakers work harder to support parents in poverty when they can just punish them?
Meanwhile, as ThinkProgress pointed out,the state’s maximum welfare benefit is $185 per month, which hasn’t changed since 1996. So if parents even get the maximum benefit, this