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Nearly 40 states have chosen to participate in a more than $2 billion grocery program that gives low-income families an extra $120 per child to help feed them during the summer break.
But Texas, which has 3.8 million children eligible for the program, is not one of them.
The state, which has the highest number of eligible children among the 12 holdout states, missed the Jan. 1 deadline to let the U.S. Department of Agriculture know if it would participate, and while Texas still has other chances later in the year to join, the decision lies with the state Legislature to approve the cost of administering the program.
“They could still submit an intent-to-participate (application),” said Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, a network of 20 food banks. “The bottom line is they still have time.”
Texas, if it opts into the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program, would receive an estimated $400 million in federal dollars to cover the cost of the meal assistance, which would be distributed on debit cards like the Lone Star cards used to access SNAP food benefits, also known as food stamps. State taxpayers would have to foot half the estimated $110 million in administrative costs, about $55 million, according to Feeding Texas.
Families would qualify for the summer meal benefits if their children, even if they are home-schooled or attend private schools, qualify for free or reduced priced lunches during the school year. In 2024, a family of four with an annual income of $40,560 or less would be eligible for free school lunch. To qualify for a reduced school meal, that same family would have to make $57,720 or less.
Last year, when the federal funding was first offered, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission passed on it, saying it did not have enough time to set up the program. This year, commission officials have not said if the state will participate, referring all questions about the program to this section in its legislative appropriation request for 2026 and 2027, filed months ago.
“The federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized states to implement a permanent Summer Electronic Benefits (EBT) program to provide families with school-aged children food benefits during the summer months,” the statement reads. “HHSC will work with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA), and the Legislature on this issue."
The agriculture agency referred questions about participation to the health agency. Officials with the education agency noted that because this is a new program, which requires the state to pay half of the administrative costs, the Legislature would need to “take action and provide direction” to the three agencies.
The education agency also noted it does not have a mechanism to collect data on private and home schooled students to determine eligibility for the summer program.
So far, there’s no word from lawmakers about their support or opposition to Texas’ participation. The Texas Legislature begins its new session on Jan. 14.
Half of the states who have not yet joined the summer program have been slow to expand programs for low-income residents, the biggest of which is Medicaid. Texas, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and South Carolina are among the 10 states that have refused to expand Medicaid health insurance to more state residents.
Genesis of the federal program
While there are as many as 3.8 million students in Texas who qualify for free or reduced lunch, not all of them are getting it. According to the USDA, about 500,000 eligible Texas students didn’t participate in 2023. And two years prior to that during the pandemic, only 1.8 million Texas students participated.
When the pandemic shut down schools, alternative pick-up points for meals were set up for parents, beginning in the spring of 2020. As a result, the USDA began looking at ways to continue meal access to qualifying students, leading to the full implementation of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer program.
Even though state leaders have been increasingly adverse to expanding what they consider to be entitlement programs in recent decades, Texas has considered going beyond feeding just during the school year by testing a summer food program well before 2024. Texas was one of a handful of states that piloted one as part of the Women, Infants and Children program, beginning in 2011 and continuing through 2013 and in 2018.
“We piloted this, but it never got expanded,” Cole said.
Concerns about funding the state’s $55 million split of the costs shouldn’t prevent lawmakers from approving participation — the state’s portion could be offset by the economic stimulus the extra food money could provide, according to social services advocates. Research has shown that every dollar spent on SNAP can generate $1.50 in local economic activity.
Based on the number of children eligible, the nonprofit advocacy group Every Texan estimated that if the state had participated in the summer meal program last year, Texas could have seen an economic impact of $675 million to $810 million.
History of school lunch programs
In 1946, President Harry Truman signed into law the National School Lunch Program, which provided funding for free and reduced cost lunches to low-income students who qualified. The legislation was in response to the fact that too many American men were rejected for military service because of health conditions tied to malnutrition. The idea behind the program was to help improve the cognitive development of children from poorer families by providing at least one nutritious meal.
Since then, the program has expanded. There is a free breakfast program for qualifying students and the USDA reimburses groups during the summer who provide meals to low-income children. Students either go without meals or rely on schools or other community organizations to provide meals, often heavily supported by local food banks.
Reporter Jaden Edison contributed to this story.
Disclosure: Every Texan and Feeding Texas have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.