(This is a guest post by Tyler Offerman of the KY Equal Justice Center.)
Every child, whether black, white, or brown, documented or undocumented, deserves to live without the fear and trauma of hunger. According to the most recent national data, more than 186,000 Kentucky were considered food insecure in 2017. A big reason that number isn’t higher is because many children receive meals while at school.
In 2017, Kentucky received $25,677,369 in federal funds for the 2016-17 school year through the National School Lunch Program — also known as “free or reduced-price meals” — which allows Kentucky to serve over 150 million nutritious meals per year. The loss of this program due to school closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been bad for kids, hard on families, and disastrous for local food economies.
Children, now more than ever, need the security of regular and healthy meals. And Kentucky farmers and grocers need every paying customer they can find because of the economic devastation caused by the pandemic.
Enter the Pandemic EBT Program.
What is Pandemic EBT?
The Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (Pandemic EBT or P-EBT) program provides households an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card — similar to a debit card — with benefits equal to the value of breakfasts and lunches a student was not able to receive during the days schools were closed. Households can use these benefits for grocery items eligible under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) – formerly called “food stamps.”
The Pandemic EBT program is an extension of the regular EBT program, and was created with the passage of the federal CARES Act. It is an attempt to ensure vulnerable families with children missing meals have food to put on the table. The Kentucky Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) and the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) have partnered to administer the P-EBT Program, which specifically provides food assistance to families who have lost access to free or reduced-price school meals because of school building closures during the pandemic.
P-EBT benefits are entirely federally funded and will provide up to $187 million in food assistance to up to 595,000 Kentucky children, with almost all of that money going into the pockets of Kentucky grocery stores and local farmers. The plan will provide each eligible student with up to $313.50 for the time period of March through May to help with nutritional support during the time that schools have been closed during the pandemic.
Who qualifies for Pandemic EBT?
Households eligible for P-EBT include those whose children attend a public school, private school, or Head Start Program that participates in the US Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program and are certified to receive free or reduced-price school meals, as well as children who attend schools that offer free school meals to all students. Even if a school was able to provide some meals during this period, a household is still eligible for P-EBT benefits.
If a family is approved for P-EBT in a month following March, they will receive benefits for the month in which they became eligible through May. The benefits will remain active for one year.
How do I get my Pandemic EBT benefits?
Students who are in households that already receive SNAP benefits or other CHFS Direct Certification Income Eligible Program Benefits will be automatically enrolled. For students not enrolled in any of these programs, their households will need to fill out a short application.
- Children in households that already receive SNAP had their P-EBT benefits automatically loaded onto their existing EBT card.
- Children in households who were not participating in SNAP but were participating in another CHFS direct certification income eligible program (Medicaid, CHIP, etc.) were automatically sent a reloaded EBT card with their P-EBT benefits on it.
- Children in households who do not receive a CHFS Direct Certification Income Eligible Program Benefit but do qualify for free and reduced lunch will need to complete a short registration process on Benefind before August 31, 2020.
- The application process for new households begins June 1. The deadline for these applications is August 31st. To apply for P-EBT, visit benefind.ky.gov.
- Minimal information is required: just general information and the child’s Statewide Student Identification Number (SSID), which can be found on their report card or from the child’s school district
Visit the KDE P-EBT webpage for more information. The webpage includes FAQs, as well as a customizable flyer that districts may choose to utilize to help communicate the program to their families.
–30–