Food stamp program is run inefficiently Through the Great Recession and during the anemic recovery since, food stamps have been literal life savers for families that once thought they’d never need government help with something as basic as feeding the kid

California is falling short. State officials need to figure out why.

The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is administered by the states and known as CalFresh in California. Numbers of beneficiaries shot up when the economy tanked a decade ago.

In 2007, there were about 26.3 million people in SNAP nationally. By 2009, there were 33.5 million. The demand peaked at 47.6 million in 2013 — a total increase of 81 percent in just six years. The numbers have declined in recent years, but remained 41.6 million people receiving benefits as of April.

The program’s State Activity Reports show that in fiscal year 2015, the most recent data available, California’s 4.4 million participants represented 9.7 percent of the national total and 11 percent of total payouts. Those benefits averaged $142 per month per person, or about $300 per household, making this the third-highest state benefit in the nation.

Amounts of individual grants can vary for legitimate reasons from state to state — but California’s costs of administering the program also are inordinately high. Its administrative costs were $68.92 per case per month, 143 percent of the national average. It trailed only Wyoming ($81.37). Florida had the lowest administrative costs, at $6.96 per case per month.

It’s not as if those additional costs are working to reduce fraud or improve the accuracy of decisions on whether to approve benefits.

Applicants who are turned down may appeal through a “fair hearing” process conducted by the state. California’s track record in these hearings is terrible.

It is one of only six states to have more of its decisions overturned than upheld, with just a 48.5 percent success rate.

This suggests that either the state’s fair hearing process is allowing fraudulent claims, or the administration isn’t very good about making “fair” benefit determinations in the first place. Accurate decisions the first time save money in the long run while helping to prevent families from going hungry in this rich state.

It’s encouraging that the numbers of people needing food stamps are dropping. The fact that they remain high isn’t surprising, however.

The soaring cost of housing and the relative shortage of well-paid jobs, between the extremes of service jobs and software engineers, has been hard on people at the fringes of prosperity — particularly for families recovering from foreclosed homes as well as lost jobs.

Parents working hard at minimum wage jobs may still qualify for food stamps today. Some are homeless.

California has to look at why its costs per case are so high and why its record on having decisions overturned is so poor. The argument that it pays staff more to get a better result sure isn’t going to cut it.