A Tennessee lawmaker has dropped a bill linking welfare benefits to a child’s performance in school, after an 8-year-old girl, along with others opposed to the measure, confronted him.
Republican State Senator Stacey Campfield (R-Knoxville) withdrew his proposal from the Senate Floor, after Aamira Fetugan, 8, presented him with a petition signed by people who are against the measure, rawstory.com reported.
Campfield’s bill would have reduced Temporary Assistance to Needy Families payments to the families of children who fail a grade by up to 30 percent, unless their parents take corrective action. Those include attending an eight-hour parenting class, meeting twice with teachers, enrolling a child in summer school or arranging tutoring.
According to Tennessean, families would see their payments, which average about $185 a month, cut by about 30 percent until they demonstrated that they had completed at least one of those tasks.
Campfield has asked for further study on the proposed measure and he told reporters he reserves the right to bring back the bill next year, the paper also reported.
