State to provide over $1B in benefits for children who missed out on meals
The federal government last week approved a program that allows Pennsylvania to provide more than $1 billion in benefits to families of students in the state who would have gotten free or reduced-price meals during the 202021 school year but were not able to access them because they were in remote instruction.
The federally funded program, called the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer, is meant to help cover the cost of breakfasts and lunches for families of the nearly 1 million children in Pennsylvania who would have been eligible to receive meals for free or at a reduced price through the National School Lunch Program.
“The pandemic caused hardships for Pennsylvania families that nobody could have anticipated or planned for,” said state Secretary of Human Services Teresa Miller. “The P- EBT program provides needed relief to many families with school-age children whose expenses unexpectedly increased at the same time that so many family incomes unexpectedly decreased.”
Qualifying families will receive benefits equal to the daily reimbursement rate for school breakfast and lunches through the National School Lunch Program: $2.26 for breakfast, 96 cents for a snack and $3.60 for lunch. P-EBT benefits are equal to $6.82 per day the child is eligible. The state said it will distribute about $84 million per month in benefits to the families of about 928,000 children, totaling about $1 billion.
The state said it would distribute the benefits in three phases: Families of children eligible during the period of Sept. 1, 2020, through Nov. 30, 2020, will receive them in late April or early May; families of children eligible during the period of Dec. 1, 2020, to Feb. 28, 2021, will receive them in early June; and families of children eligible during the period of March 1, 2021, through May 31, 2021, will receive them in mid-July.
Although most students in Pennsylvania have received free meals through their school because of accommodations made by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not all of them will qualify for P-EBT benefits. Only students who are eligible or students at schools where all children are eligible for the National School Lunch Program will receive P-EBT benefits, according to the state.
The state said, if possible, it will issue the benefits to the eligible household’s regular EBT card for families whose children already receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits. For all other families, the state said, benefits will be issued on a white card mailed to the family’s home address in each eligible child’s name.
The P-EBT program was part of the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, passed during the spring of 2020, when schools initially closed and was reauthorized to cover the entire 2020-21 academic year.
The state departments of Human Services and Education developed the rollout for the P-EBT plan in Pennsylvania.
The reauthorization required states to issue PEBT benefits only for the days a child could not access school meals because the child attended classes remotely, the state said.
Based on a 180- day school calendar, the state said, a student who attended school remotely each day would be eligible for $1,227.60 in benefits.
The law also required states to develop a plan for P-EBT benefits for eligible children who attended school in a hybrid instruction model. The state said it will issue benefits for children at hybrid model schools at a rate of 65% of the amount a fully remote student would receive for the first two phases. The state said it will survey schools in late spring to determine a new average rate for the final round of benefits.
“Hunger and food security impact a child,” said acting state Secretary of Education Noe Ortega. “When well fed and properly nourished, children express themselves, focus and learn better. The approval of this benefit provides continued access to resources that will support the growth and development of thousands of children across Pennsylvania, and that earns an A+ in my book.”