SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) In California’s high-skill economy, it is very difficult to get a good, middle-class job without vocational education or a college degree, let alone a high school diploma.
(b) This is a significant barrier to socioeconomic mobility for California’s highly vulnerable CalWORKs recipients, because as many as 65 percent of CalWORKs recipients do not have a high school education.
(c) Research has consistently shown that postsecondary education boosts social mobility, particularly for those at the bottom of the income distribution scale, and that a parent’s level of education has positive effects on his or her child’s level of success into middle adulthood.
(d) California has the seventh largest federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cash grant in the nation, and the second largest among the 10 largest states.
(e) Poverty remains a persistent problem.
(f) This act is intended to provide incentives for CalWORKs recipients to pursue education, thereby improving the opportunities and outcomes for adults and children in the CalWORKs program.