Starting this summer, states, territories and certain tribal nations participating in U.S. Department of Agriculture's Summer EBT program will be able to give low-income families $40 monthly per school-aged child to help buy groceries, KUT reports. Many such families face food insecurity when schools are no longer in session and providing free or reduced-cost lunches.
States had until Jan. 1 to let theUSDA know whether they plan to participate, and so far, the majority have signed up, potentially providing relief to 29 million children, federal records show.
However, Texas won't be taking part.
Officials with the Texas state agencies that would be responsible for implementing Summer EBT told KUT the rollout came too late for them to make it operational this summer. The state could enroll at a later date, they added.
“Based on the time that this program was released, it was already after our [regular] legislative session had concluded in the state,” Texas Department of Agriculture Assistant Commissioner Lena Wilson told the station.
Dozens of schools, food banks and nonprofits signed onto a letter in Nov. 28 organized by Austin think Tank Feeding Texas urging Texas officials to participate in the USDA program. They even offered technical and financial assistance for agencies to meet the enrollment deadline.
“It’s a no-brainer to me that we should be doing Summer EBT that would help about 3.7 million children and is estimated to bring about nearly a half a billion [dollars] into the economy over the summer,” Rachel Cooper, Every Texan's director of health and food justice, told KUT. “This is really just a failure on our part to do the work to get this done for this year.”
If Texas is unable to get the program off the ground this summer, it should prioritize having it ready for summer 2025, Cooper added.
Texas' failure to participate in Summer EBT comes as local food banks warn that food security is worsening and as 227,000 Texans face being dropped from the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition program. Congress, in a stalemate over budgets, hasn't approved new funding for WIC, which analysts warn will force the government to turn away eligible moms and kids nationwide.
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