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:
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.
For the first time in five years, the majority of low-income students across Tennessee will not receive supplemental grocery funds this summer to help bridge the months when they aren’t receiving school meals.
This is because Lee rejected federal support of Summer EBT – and instead, created a new, TN-funded program. The new program will serve only 25,000 kids in just 15 counties – down from the 700,000 kids served in all 95 counties since 2020.
