GOP Blocks Campfield’s Welfare-for-Grades Bill

Children and clergy sing as lawmakers file into the Senate chambers at the Tennessee capitol. Photo credit Blake Farmer/WPLN

A proposal tying welfare payments to a child’s report card has been pulled from consideration for the year. The bill lost support before coming to a vote on the floor of the Tennessee Senate.

Majority Leader Mark Norris said the legislation made him “queasy.”

“You can say withholding benefits doesn’t harm the child, but you’re fooling yourself,” he said.

While lawmakers commended Sen. Stacey Campfield’s (R-Knoxville) effort to increase parental involvement, they voiced concerns about unintended consequences.

Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) suggested kids who bring home bad report cards could get the “dog doo-doo beat out of them” for costing their parents money.

Lawmakers were welcomed to the capitol by children and ministers singing “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” Sen. Campfield was handed a petition opposing the measure by an 8-year-old child.

“Oh thank you,” he said with a tone of sarcasm.” “I love it when people use children as props. It’s so wonderful.”

The welfare-for-grades bill has been panned by the likes of Tonight Show host Jay Leno and The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart, who joked that Campfield wants to turn Tennessee education into “the actual Hunger Games.”

Campfield argues his legislation has been misunderstood. He explained to senators Thursday that the bill does not affect food stamps and would only reduce the $185 cash benefit by 30 percent if a parent refuses to go to parent-teacher conferences or parenting classes.

“It’s not so much to ask,” says mother Tiffany Robinson, who previously received the benefit and opposes the bill. “But some parents have to work two or three jobs just to take care of their kids, so they’re not there to go to the classes they want us to be at.”

Governor Bill Haslam had threatened to veto the proposal.

“I think there are too many other reasons that a child would struggle in school beyond just a parent’s lack of involvement,” Haslam said this week.

The bill will now be sent to a summer study committee.