Gov. Patrick Morrisey has tied continued delays with the school clothing allowance program to a looming shortfall in the federal funding that pays for the program. School has started around West Virginia while that program continues to be held up.

As lawmakers —both Republican and Democratic — have demanded answers from the administration for its handling of the back-to-school program, some elected officials are also frustrated by a lack of information about how the governor is spending federal funds. 

They want to know in detail how the state is using Temporary Assistance for Needy Families dollars, a federal block grant program that gives states broad flexibility with how they spend it.

“I want to make sure that a federal block grant that’s coming in for TANF is being utilized at its maximum potential to assist needy families in West Virginia,” said House Health Chair Evan Worrell, R-Cabell.

House Finance Committee member Del. John Williams, D-Monongalia, is in the dark about how the governor is spending the TANF funds. He stressed that it’s important to know this temporary assistance program will be available when needed.

“This isn’t just a bunch of freeloaders who buy beer and cigarettes, as has been illustrated with past comments,” Williams said. “These are people who found themselves in a really bad spot, and we need to make sure that this program, which they depend upon, is being administered the best way to get the best benefit to needy West Virginians.”

“There’s a lack of being forthright on the administration’s part,” he added.

Back in May, Morrisey unexpectedly announced a projected multi-million structural deficit in TANF dollars, which the state uses to pay for its child care subsidy program, foster care and other programs helping low-income children and families. The announcement came after lawmakers finished the legislative session and the state budget was completed. 

West Virginia has around $98 million to use in TANF funding, but $137 million in expenses funded by those federal dollars, leaving a gap that Morrisey is trying to reduce. 

The state has less than 13 months — $41 million — in TANF carryover funds at this point, according to Morrisey.

West Virginia Watch asked Morrisey’s office for documentation about the TANF deficit and a breakdown of spending; that was not provided to our newsroom by deadline.

A spokesperson for Morrisey did not return a request for comment for this story.

The lack of clarity around spending comes after Morrisey wanted to use TANF dollars to pay for an outside education group linked to his political donations. The governor’s office said in May that the specific project was “still in the proposal (and) planning stage” during the TANF spending review.

Worrell, who sits on the House Finance Committee, has led the charge in the House on trying to gather information about how the governor is spending TANF dollars.

Morrisey’s office shared some TANF spending information with Worrell earlier this summer.

“Some questions were answered, some are still left,” Worrell said. “I received a response on Aug. 4th that said they were working on getting me the information. Today’s Aug. 19. I still don’t have anything.”

As part of his request, Worrell wants specific information on how the state is spending TANF dollars on its child care assistance program. Morrisey previously signaled that the TANF deficit could impact that program used by thousands of working West Virginia parents. 

“I think there’s a variety of ways to maybe reduce the spend in TANF to get it back under the federal block grant. But the department and the governor’s office has to be willing to share that information with us,” Worrell said.

The state also puts in around $25.8 million in funding toward TANF in what’s called a “maintenance of effort.” Worrell said lawmakers are owed a line-by-line breakdown of where that state money is spent. 

Quotation

The way this has been handled, and some would say mishandled, has had real consequences. It's time to set maybe the politics aside, come together for West Virginia's kids.

– Jim McKay, state director of Prevent Child Abuse West Virginia

Jim McKay, state director of Prevent Child Abuse West Virginia, said the lack of clarity around the state’s TANF spending has led to instability for organizations working directly with children in need of help. There are ongoing concerns about state support for Family Support Centers, which were only granted TANF funding through this fall. 

“Everything is just up in the air unnecessarily when there is a state plan,” McKay said. “There’s a budget that’s been approved at the level requested by the administration each of the past two years, and yet contracts have been delayed every step of the way. There’s been more questions than answers.”

Lawmakers may consider using state dollars to keep programs open

TANF spending has increased under Morrissey, according to previous information from the governor’s office. Lawmakers recently learned that the state is using nearly $8 million in TANF dollars to pay for a broken online database system that is supposed to run Medicaid, foster care and more. 

In the Senate, Finance Chair Jason Barrett, R-Berkeley, felt he had enough clarity on how the governor spent TANF funds. It “appears to be pretty cut and dry where the dollars are going,” he told West Virginia Watch.

“They’re going to spend just short of $137 million. Of that, the clothing voucher is $11.4 million, which is the same dollar amount as last year, is not an amount that was originally budgeted for fiscal year ‘27, but it is the same amount that was spent in fiscal year ‘26,” Barrett said. “I think I’m satisfied with the information they gave.”

While the governor’s office has full authority over how the state spends TANF, the Legislature could be tasked with deciding if they’ll invest state dollars to keep programs.

“That’s a decision that the entire Legislature will have to make,” Barrett said. “ … I’d be interested to hear what Senate members think, specifically Senate members on the Finance Committee … about where their priorities are, if using state dollars to supplement TANF is something they want to do.

Senate Finance Committee member Sen. Mike Oliverio, R-Monongalia, is hoping for more transparency on this issue from the governor’s office.

“I hope the governor’s office will be more forthcoming with some of the questions that were asked during the interim (meetings) that will help us craft policy solutions to help those citizens in need,” Oliverio said.

McKay stressed that TANF is a “critically important” program in West Virginia. 

“Its number one core purpose is to support families so that their children can remain home with their family. We know there’s a huge child welfare crisis, and the number of kids who are being placed into foster care is a huge challenge for our state,” McKay said. 

“The way this has been handled, and some would say mishandled, has had real consequences. It’s time to set maybe the politics aside, come together for West Virginia’s kids,” he said. 

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