LA Board desperately looking for ways to save CalWORKS

June 17, 11:15 AMLA Libertarian ExaminerElizabeth Frazier

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Yesterday, the LA County Board of Supervisors set forth some suggestions to shore up the ailing CalWORKS program currently under the ax in the continuing saga of California's budget woes. The biggest change suggested by the Board was the proposal to loosen the requirements for parents to receive benefits while staying at home.

As it stands now, parents with a child under the age of one may remain at home and still receive cash assistance. Past this point the parent would have to attend job training, school or work. To help ease the burden, the state makes subsidized day care available.

But this was before the current budget shortfall of $24.3 billion. To combat this crisis, Sacramento has been looking to save money wherever it can and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has actively been looking for ways to cut CalWORKS in its entirety.

Under the new rules that the Board is proposing, anyone who has a child up to two years old or two children under six would also be eligible to receive funds without a work requirement.

The Board is hoping to head off Gov. Schwarzenegger at the pass by reigning in spending on their own. By encouraging parents to stay home with their kids, the county would no longer have to foot the bill for job training and educational reimbursement. All told the potential savings could run up to $140 million over the year.

There are, however, concerns this move simply lowers the cost on the front end at the expense of increased dependency on cash assistance and unemployment benefits in the long run. Parents newly eligible for benefits now may find themselves worse off when removed from the welfare rolls later with deficient job skills.

Here's an excerpt for today's LA Times:

"...Priscilla Murillo of Canoga Park, a single mother with three children under age 5, said she wants to finish school and find a job as soon as possible. With her youngest child just a month old, Murillo, 27, could stay home now and still receive benefits. But she said the Welfare to Work program motivated her to continue pursuing her associate degree.

Murillo worries that if the state pays fellow single mothers to stay home, they will become dependent on welfare.

"I think it's good to push people," she said. "It helps them and it helps the economy."

LA County's chief executive Miguel Santana was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as  stating that "What we're saying is do not cut Welfare to Work outright: Target the cuts to the people who are the most expensive."  But the people who are the most expensive are those attending job training and school, activities that decrease the likelihood of returning to welfare.  Though this new move will cut costs it calls into question whether it is in line with the program's goal of getting people off welfare and back to work.  Will it truly help Californians or create a larger, more dependent population in the long run?