Governor Rick Snyder has signed a new law tying welfare benefits to school attendance.
For more than two years, a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services policy has ended cash assistance for families with children who persistently miss school. This cements that policy in state law.
Supporters say it's an incentive for parents to make sure their kids are in school. Opponents say it unfairly targets low-income families and hurts siblings of truant children who have no control over the situation.
“This legislation brings together parents, schools and the state to determine obstacles that keep students from being in school and how to overcome them,” Governor Rick Snyder said in a written statement, “To break the cycle of poverty, kids need an education to position them for future success. We have to do everything we can to see that they are regularly attending school.”
