A lot of times, your school will do a summer meal program and provide meals. Sometimes it’s the YMCA. Sometimes it’s the Boys and Girls Club. Sometimes food banks will have programs in addition to just providing food. So there are spots available. It’s just not as widespread as Summer EBT.
The report notes that lawmakers did set the stage for Tennessee returning to the Summer EBT program in 2027. Of course, the state will have a new Governor then, and that could throw a wrench – but, as it stands, the funding is available for Summer 2027.
Gov. Bill Lee has made it clear he doesn’t want to feed hungry kids in the summer if it means he has to take federal money to do so.
While this may seem a cruel way to prove a political point (the point, ostensibly that TN doesn’t NEED federal help), Bill Lee just doesn’t care.
He’s opted-out of a program known as Sun Bucks two years in a row – in spite many hunger and education advocates encouraging him to participate.
Oh, and this starvation scheme doesn’t save the state any money – in the federal program, TN spends about $5 million to draw down $84 million. Those federal funds ensure some 700,000 kids get some meal help in the summer. Lee took that same $5 million in state funds and created a much smaller program – one that only feeds 25,000 kids. That’s a terrible ROI. It seems Lee’s capitalist supporters would be shocked at his terrible business sense on this one.
Or, well, just shocked that he’d starve kids and not even save the state some cash.
In an apparent rebuke to the governor, two rural Republicans — Sen. Paul Bailey of Sparta and Rep. Michael Hale of Sparta — are sponsoring a bill to require the state to apply for the federal Summer EBT funding. In past years, the program has distributed $84 million in federal funding to low-income families to help them buy their children food at the grocery store when school is out.
So far, a bipartisan group of 30 lawmakers have signed on – and the bill has passed unanimously in every committee where its been heard.
Will these lawmakers prevail?
And where do the current candidates for Gov stand on feeding hungry kids over the summer?
Despite the urging of county mayors, child advocates, clergy and educators, Gov. Bill Lee has declined to secure millions of dollars in federal funding to provide food to low-income kids by the government’s Jan. 1 deadline.
Lee joins a group of a dozen GOP governors who are refusing summer EBT benefits at the behest of Trump, who wants states to be less “dependent” on the federal government.
And, apparently, Lee is willing to score political points even if it means hundreds of thousands of kids face food insecurity.
Which, by the way, what kind of sick political game creates incentives for actively promoting childhood hunger?
Yes, all school meals should be free for every kid every day.
But for now, free meals are limited to those who fill out forms and qualify based on income.
Lee has an opportunity to accept federal funds for 2026 -and the deadline for that decision is fast-approaching (It’s January 1st).
Groups are asking Lee to take action – County Mayors, pastors, and more are calling on Lee to accept the funds that help some 700,000 kids access food assistance in the summer.
Below is a statement from the Tennessee High School Democrats:
Will Gov. Bill Lee do the right thing in the last year of his term? Will he accept federal assistance for Sun Bucks – a summer EBT program that provides help for families with kids who receive free or reduced lunch?
Probably not.
But, local elected officials are asking him to.
33 County Mayors are calling on Gov. Bill Lee to participate in the federal Sun Bucks program in 2026.
The local leaders penned a letter to Lee asking him not to forego the summer program that provides additional EBT funds for families during the summer. The program is designed to provide additional assistance during a time when kids are unable to get free or reduced-cost meals at school.
Lee refused to participate in Sun Bucks last summer – and left hundreds of thousands of kids without the food assistance their families need.
The program is inexpensive and it works, so naturally, Tennessee policymakers don’t want to participate.
I suspect many of them spent this Sunday in church, singing praises to a Jesus whose teachings they willfully ignore.
More maddening? The Tennessee voters who show up continue to elect “leaders” like Lee simply because these politicians align with their chosen King, Donald Trump.
Here’s more on Sun Bucks and the 675,000 children who suffered this summer so Bill Lee could prove a point:
Sun Bucks is a pragmatic and powerful innovation. After fifty years of relying primarily on congregate meal service, pandemic-era pilots proved that grocery benefits are a high-impact complement. By institutionalizing that lesson, Sun Bucks delivers $120 per child to bridge the summer nutrition gap while preserving meal sites where they are effective. And beyond reducing hardship, the program’s $3.5 billion in benefits may generate over $5 billion in local economic activity each summer, supporting families, businesses, farmers, and communities alike. States that decline to participate are not just forgoing a proven strategy to reduce child hunger—they are turning down fully funded federal benefits that could strengthen their own local economies.
Yep. That’s Bill Lee. “turning down fully-funded federal benefits that could strengthen” Tennessee’s economy.
