The families of all Vermont public school students, and those of some independent school students, are expected to receive at least $120 in federal food benefits this summer.
The state plans to disburse $9.6 million in federal Covid-19 aid funding to the households of roughly 80,000 students in total, according to the Vermont Agency of Education.
Families are slated to receive $120 per student on a prepaid electronic benefit transfer, or EBT, card. The funds can be used to buy food at grocery stores, farmers markets and convenience stores.
The pandemic funds, which will be distributed in August, are a one-time benefit. There are no income limits or requirements to receive the money, which will expire in roughly a year, according to Rosie Krueger, the state director of child nutrition programs at the Agency of Education.
“We always want to make sure that Vermont families get every bit of assistance that they’re entitled to from the federal government,” Krueger said in an interview.
The windfall is the result of a combination of federal pandemic aid programs and provisions in recent state law. In December, Congress authorized a round of pandemic aid for school meals, known as P-EBT, for the summer of 2023. The money was intended to help children who received subsidized meals in school access food over the summer.
Only students enrolled at schools that participate in federal food aid programs were eligible for that aid, according to the federal requirements.
In 2022, however, Vermont passed a law requiring public schools to offer free breakfast and lunch to students and providing state money to reimburse schools that did so. In order to be reimbursed by the state, schools were required to participate in federal school meal programs.
As a result, all Vermont public school students, and some at independent schools, will receive this summer’s federal benefit cards. State officials did not provide a figure for how many independent schools are participating.
Pre-K students at those participating schools will also be eligible for the cards.
The program appeared to receive some attention during Vermont’s legislative session. During discussion of a bill to make a free school breakfast and lunch program permanent, Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, the chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, pointed to such benefits as an example of what she described as a questionable allocation of resources.
“Somebody we know who has a high level administrative job got an EBT card for, what, $120 for the summer?” Kitchel said in a committee hearing earlier this month. “And that family went to Rome last year on vacation and Paris this year.”
Several members of the governor’s staff received cards, she said, “and it raised considerable consternation around the benefit.”
Earlier this month, the Legislature approved a universal school meals program, with $29 million in state funding. Kitchel opposed it.
She could not be reached for comment by phone or email Monday. Agency of Education officials said the $120 summer EBT cards have not yet been sent out.
But state officials also distributed a separate round of $1.8 million in P-EBT funds in April. That benefit was provided to families whose children missed school for reasons related to Covid-19 between September 2022 and January 2023.
Another round of that aid, for absences from February through May 2023, will be sent out with the summer P-EBT aid, meaning that families with children who were absent for Covid-related reasons during that period will receive more than $120 on the cards.
Anore Horton, executive director of the nonprofit Hunger Free Vermont, which has lobbied heavily for universal school meals, urged families to “please, please use your P-EBT cards.”
The cards are not only a resource for families to buy food, she said, but also a $9.6 million boon to Vermont’s economy.
“Use them and go support your local farmers with your kids, and let them pick out some beautiful fresh produce at your local farmers market,” she said. “Or use them at the grocery store. Or if what you want to do is, you know, buy food with it and donate it to your local food shelf, do that. But please don’t waste these federal funds that can go toward supporting Vermont’s local food and farm economy.”