Emily Muttillo, the Williamson Family Fellow for Applied Research and director of research at The Center for Community Solutions, is the guest columnist. She helps employees look at a range of social, economic, and health situations.
In Ohio, receiving school vouchers worth thousands of dollars for tuition is easier for parents than receiving assistance with basic necessities.
The documentation is where the difference lies, not simply in income qualifying.
In Ohio, almost every family is eligible for one of the many different school voucher programs. The process is quick, the application is easy to complete, and the income requirements are reasonable.
Families are eligible to receive thousands of dollars annually for each child’s K–12 education.
Families can be guided through the application and income verification process by many private schools. These educational institutions have a stake in families obtaining vouchers to cover tuition and other expenses.
Contrast that with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s (SNAP) nutrition assistance application process.
The federal poverty threshold serves as the basis for the stringent income limits of SNAP. A much more complicated system must be negotiated by applicants: Families must complete lengthy paperwork, submit proof of income and spending, take part in interviews, and report changes in housing, employment, and household members—often under pressure.
Food banks and other community organizations have found it more challenging to assist households with SNAP applications due to state requirements.
After being authorized, SNAP users need to repeatedly demonstrate their eligibility and recertify. Benefits may be withheld or delayed if you skip a stage or don’t submit the required documentation on time or correctly.
Families and hungry children literally lose meals because of red tape. One of the most fundamental needs—food—should not be impeded by needless bureaucracy.
A individual can get up to $292 per month, or $3,504 annually, from SNAP. The average annual SNAP benefit is $1,900, or about $160 per person.
On the other hand, vouchers can be worth over $8,000 for high school children and $6,000 for K–8 students per year. The paperwork is made to be as efficient as possible for the state, the school, and the family.
We can decide to follow Ohio’s example of streamlining the procedure to provide educational support worth thousands of dollars per child in order to assist eligible families in affording meals.
Administrative costs deter people from applying for benefits for which they qualify, according to research.
This is particularly true for those who are dealing with crises like illness or job loss, working parents, and those who have limited access to technology.
People give up when the paperwork becomes too complicated, and their children suffer as a result.
Legislators in Ohio make programs accessible when they desire them to be. They cut down on paperwork. They make eligibility easier. Families are trusted by them.
We ought to bring the same enthusiasm to SNAP. Make the application simpler. Minimize the amount of documentation needed. Adjust income ceilings to reflect reality.
Families in Ohio should be able to get assistance with their children’s food just as simply if they can receive assistance with school expenses using only one form and a tax return.
Government programs can be easy to use, as Ohio has shown. Why do we continue to erect obstacles in the way of hungry families? It shouldn’t be more difficult to navigate public programs for food than it is for tuition.
Let’s make that right.
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