$200 BACK-TO-SCHOOL CLOTHING VOUCHERS WILL BE ISSUED

(06/28/2006)

About 57,000 West Virginia schoolchildren will get an extra $50 in school clothing vouchers this year, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. The vouchers will be for $200. Children from families receiving cash assistance under the West Virginia Works program, and children from families with incomes below 100 percent of the federal poverty level will be eligible for the vouchers. The federal poverty level for a family of four is about $20,000. The additional $50 will be funded through a $2.8 million supplement to the department's 2006-07 budget. Last year, Gov. Joe Manchin convinced the Legislature to use surplus federal welfare funds to bump up the vouchers to $200 each. Manchin said the $2.8 million increase in the clothing vouchers was a more effective way to help children from low-income families, as opposed to the tax holiday, which was open to all consumers and resulted in the loss of about $2 million in sales tax collections each year. Vouchers should be distributed in mid-July.

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