To help remedy an impending increase in food insecurity, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees school meal programs, granted waivers from the standard school lunch program guidelines, enabling districts to expand their own meal programs. Schools were able to provide students with meals not only during the final months of the 2020 school year, but through the summer vacation months and into the 2021–22 school year.
Those waivers ended in 2022, however, and since then, summer meal programs for students have not been the norm. All 50 states had the chance to accept federal money for a new 2024 summer electronic benefits transfer (EBT) that would’ve provided money to low-income families for food, but only 35 states opted in prior to the Jan. 1 deadline.
Each of the 15 states that declined to take part in the federally funded program that would help families in-need feed their school-aged children in the summer is run by a Republican governor. And, yes, since you asked, Texas is one of the 15 states that opted to not take part in the more than $2.5-billion program. Natch.
Qualifying families in the 35 states participating in the program in 2024 will receive $40 per month, per student, for three months, transferred directly into their bank accounts to assist in covering the cost of food that would be provided by schools during the school year. This is a different scenario than simply providing meals during the summer the way that many districts did during the pandemic’s early days. Now, it's money, not lunches, being furnished to students directly.
"The thing that I’m very hopeful about is that Texas has said they will work with federal and state officials to evaluate implementing the summer EBT program in the future.” – Crystal FitzSimons, Food Research & Action Center
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The families that already qualify for free and reduced-cost school meals are eligible for the summer EBT program. But the soonest that Texas families will be able to take advantage of such a program is the summer of 2025. The Houston Chronicle reported this week that Texas would’ve received up to $350 million for the effort.
Why isn’t the Lone Star State a part of the 2024 Summer EBT program? KUT in Austin reported recently that Lena Wilson, the assistant commissioner for food and nutrition at the Texas Department of Agriculture, suggested it was a timing thing.
She explained that the program was released to the states after the regular legislative session had occurred in May 2023. Of course, that means it was released before at least one of the four special sessions the Legislature was convened. The governor alone creates special-session agendas, and the governor has the power to transfer money between programs within an agency.
“That presented a challenge because the USDA requires states that are participating in Summer EBT to cover 50% of the administrative costs for operating the program and agencies had not requested that funding,” KUT quoted Wilson as saying.
That at least has the look of a practical excuse. The same cannot be said for some other states that declined to participate in the federal program. The Washington Post noted that the Republican governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, cited childhood obesity as her reason for not opting in, while Nebraska’s Republican governor, Kim Pillen “said bluntly, ‘I don't believe in welfare.’”
Concerned Parent in North Texas PRAISES admirable Texas legislature for turning down WOKE federal funding that would feed low income kids. pic.twitter.com/3OM4OF73Qs
— Concerned Parent in North Texas (@ZachRunsThings) January 6, 2024
Taking a diplomatic approach to Texas’ decision, Crystal FitzSimons, the director of school and out-of-school time programs for the Food Research and Action Center, a national nonprofit that fights poverty-related hunger, doesn’t see the new summer EBT program as a GOP vs. Dems debate. She also points to red states such as West Virginia and Arkansas as examples of states with Republican governors that have not only opted into the new EBT program, but have long taken steps toward providing food assistance to students in need.
FitzSimons hopes that just because Texas was not ready for the program this time doesn't mean it won't be the next time. There will be another chance to join in before 2025 starts.
“Summer EBT is a new program, so the states that are doing it have to figure out new systems and they have to provide 50% of the administrative costs,” FitzSimons says. “So it is more difficult to move forward for some states right now. The thing that I’m very hopeful about is that Texas has said they will work with federal and state officials to evaluate implementing the summer EBT program in the future.”
Still, not everyone in Texas is satisfied with the reasoning provided by the state for skipping the program this year. Zach Freeman, aka, “Concerned Parent in North Texas” in his typical, satirical style, recently posted a video to X on the matter.
“But our leaders decided, ‘We don’t need that federal money in Texas, where 1 in 5 children are at risk of going hungry,” Freeman said as he sipped from a Texas flag coffee mug. “It makes sense that we’d turn it down. Those kids can pull themselves up by their own food scraps.”
