Every Wednesday, a group of fourth graders at Winchester Elementary put on black aprons and start packing up cardboard boxes with canned vegetables and mac and cheese.
The young volunteers spend their free periods prepping weekend meal boxes for around 30 Whitehaven families who line up outside the Memphis school building each Friday afternoon. It’s a routine that’s been in place since Winchester opened its food pantry in March.
Denise Wilson, a fourth grade math teacher who runs the pantry, said families typically show up once a month for help. She expects the number of families seeking food to increase in the coming weeks because of delayed and missing SNAP benefits, which are affecting one in 10 Tennesseans as the federal government shutdown drags on.
Lee, who’s out of state this week on an economic trip to Asia, has thus far declined to tap state resources to help mitigate the loss of more than $145 million in monthly food aid intended for the state’s poorest residents – among them more than 300,000 children living in poverty.
The Tennessee Justice Center explains the challenges faced by the loss of SNAP:
On November 1, over 700,000 Tennesseans will face the unthinkable loss of access to the food they depend on through SNAP.
For the first time in history, we are up against an unnatural disaster. Families across Tennessee will be forced to make impossible choices about meals, bills, and basic needs as food support disappears.
Lee has directed state resources to launch a website that provides information on where Tennesseans can find food assistance – though the Governor is not directing additional state funds to help provide this assistance.
Lee announced that the FeedTN.org platform will connect Tennesseans with resources and opportunities to serve.
“Instead of serving 700,000 Tennessee children through Summer EBT, TDHS’s program will reach a max of 25,000 children. Despite spending nearly as much as it would take to serve the entire state, the Tennessee program will reach less than 4% of the children that received Summer EBT in 2024.”
Lee rejected $75 million in federal funds that would have supported a program to add funds to EBT cards for families whose kids receive free/reduced lunch during the school year.
Sure, it means short-term hunger – but at least TN is free from “federal interference”
Gov. Bill Lee is among a cohort of GOP governors trying to wean their governments off of “dependence” on the federal government. No Medicaid expansion, for example.
Nevermind that Tennesseans have paid into the federal treasury – Lee doesn’t want the money.
The Wall Street Journaldigs deeper into a story I wrote about back in February.
When the federal government offered to cover the cost of feeding Tennessee’s poor children last summer, state officials accepted the cash.
Some $84 million in federal money flowed into Tennessee. The families of 700,000 kids were given $120 per child to buy food during the summer months when school is out.
Washington made the same offer for the coming summer. This time, Tennessee said no.
The WSJ story notes that Republican-led states are conflicted over accepting the Summer EBT funds – 14 are taking the money, 13 (like Tennessee) are not.
Instead of ensuring all kids have access to food this summer, Lee is starting his own program – one that leaves the fast majority of kids in need without access to food.
Tennessee can spend $1 billion to give wealthy families coupons for private schools. The state can spend hundreds of millions to build a stadium for a privately-owned football team.
But we sure can’t accept money from the federal government to ensure hungry families get a boost.
Seems that someone (Bill Lee) has some pretty mixed up priorities.
With nearly 300,000 food-insecure students and more than $50 million in school lunch debt, Tennessee can hardly afford to lose even a penny of federal funding for school meals. Thanks to Musk’s DOGE agenda, though, the Volunteer State will be out $20 million.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has slashed two programs that provided more than $1bn for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farms and ranchers.
A chart of awards for the two local food programs funded by the USDA tells the story of how much states stand to lose as a result of the cuts.
Tennessee was awarded more than $20 million for these efforts in FY 2025.
Gov. Bill Lee wants to spend $150 million to start a universal school voucher scheme that could cost more than $700 million a year at full implementation.
He gave $500 million to the Tennessee Titans for a new (smaller) stadium.
He handed out $1.6 billion in corporate tax breaks.
And yet he has not (yet) taken a bold stand in favor of free school meals for all kids.
That, though, has not deterred Rep. Clemmons and legislative Democrats.
Rather than fund school lunches or boost teacher pay or invest in Medicaid expansion, or end the grocery tax, lawmakers have found a dizzying array of ways to reduce revenue by lowering or eliminating taxes paid by the wealthy or corporations.
Democratic legislative leaders sent an outline of the policy agenda to members of the media. Among the items included are:
Ending the grocery tax
Free school meals for all kids
Expanded access to health coverage
Raising the minimum wage
Democrats have proposed free school meals before, but the proposal typically is shot down by the GOP-majority in committee.
Estimates of past proposals suggest the total cost would be around $500-$700 million a year. For reference, the state provided more than $500 million to the Tennessee Titans to build a new (smaller) stadium. Lawmakers also passed $1.6 billion worth of corporate tax breaks during the last legislative session. And, Gov. Lee insisted that nearly $150 million be “set aside” for his private school voucher proposal, a plan that failed to secure enough votes to advance in the 2024 session.
The point: We can afford to feed every kid who comes to school every day. Gov. Lee and the legislative majority just don’t want to.
This may seem amazing to people in Tennessee. Here, lawmakers and Gov. Lee are focused on giving $500 million to the Tennessee Titans, privatizing state roads, and offering $1.6 billion in corporate tax giveaways.
While proposals to make school meals free for all kids in Tennessee have been presented – by both Democrats and at least one Republican – they have consistently been shot down.
Specifically, while the state has provided a half billion to the Tennessee Titans for a new stadium and offered $1.6 billion in tax breaks to big corporations (many from out of state), the state still does not provide free school meals to all kids.
For less than one third of the cost of funding corporate tax breaks and paying for a stadium for the privately-owned Titans, Tennessee could feed breakfast and lunch for free to every kid in school every day.
Instead, families in the state are saddled with school lunch debt.
These processors often charge fees to process payments – meaning the price of school meals goes up when using them. Yet, many families have no option – a single vendor typically operates the payment system for a district.
Tennessee continues to allow school lunch debt to persist, despite significant resources that would and could create a free school meal program for all kids.
The state has spent $500 million for a new Titans stadium and $1.6 billion on a corporate tax giveaway.
Those two expenses alone are three times the cost of providing free school meals for all kids in Tennessee public schools.
Policymakers could end all school lunch debt – if they wanted to.
Some districts (like Nashville) have free meals for all kids. Heck, some states (like Minnesota) provide funding for free meals for all kids in school.
But more often than not, school lunch debt is a reality – and punishments for school lunch debt can include withholding diplomas or preventing students from participating in certain school activities.
The alternative is simple: feed all the kids at school for free. No questions asked.
