Schools tackle food insecurity as SNAP benefits teeter

Schools are bracing for the impact on their students as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) teeters on the brink of running out of money amid the government shutdown.   

SNAP funds had originally be set to run out Saturday, but a federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to keep the program going so long as there are emergency funds available.

The roughly $5.25 billion emergency fund, however, is not enough to fully cover food stamps for November, which will cost the government upwards of $9 billion. 

Officials in school districts with high rates of free or reduced meals told The Hill that worries about attendance, academic performance and behavior are mounting as nearly 42 million people are expected to lose access to the government program that subsidizes food cost for low-income Americans.   

Some districts are starting food pantries or increasing the resources already provided to families, while others stress they cannot take on the responsibility of extra meals and are directing parents to local food banks. 

Trevor Greene, superintendent of the Yakima School District in Washington, is expecting a “tremendous” blow to his district, which is in the 87^th percentile for free and reduced lunches.  

“As it now stands, we know that more of our students will be hungry in the evenings, but we do take some solace that they’ll come to school the next day and be able to access the meals that we have for both breakfast and lunch. But I think we’re going to see that impact resonate throughout the community,” Greene said. 

The food stamps funding has become one of the major pressure points in the monthlong shutdown, with both sides warning that the hit to families would be immediate and substantial.

“I think we got to find some way to get help to 40 million people. This Saturday is going to be bad. It’s going to be really bad,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) told The Hill before the judge’s ruling on Friday.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had previously announced it would not be using billions of dollars in emergency SNAP money if the shutdown goes past Oct. 31, saying the government closure was caused by congressional Democrats and thus isn’t a real emergency such as a natural disaster.

A federal judge disagreed, ordering USDA to distribute the emergency funds “timely or as soon as possible” and provide an update by Monday.

“SNAP benefits have never, until now, been terminated,” U.S. District Judge John McConnell said at a hearing. “And the United States has in fact admitted that the contingency funds are appropriately used during a shutdown and that occurred in 2019.” 

Now it is unclear when the money will finally run dry.

Katie Law, principal at Wyoming’s Arapaho Charter High School, which gets money from Impact Aid that was immediately cut off when the government shut down, lamented things are “already stretched thin” at her school and that more kids will need to be added to more need-based programs that “already are not able to provide those basic necessities.” 

The worry is compounded by the connections between how much and what type of food a student eats and the affect on academic performance and behavior in the classroom.  

Central Michigan University found chronically hungry students have poorer grades, lower test scores and lower graduation rates. Hungry students also have higher absences and discipline rates. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a report showing students who eat breakfast every day, eat vegetables and avoid soda are more likely to have higher grades.  

“We need to anticipate seeing concerns for students, behavior, concerns around these sorts of things, knowing that some of it may be stemming from not just food insecurity and coming in hungry is one thing, but also any other stress the household may be under,” said Sean Bulson, superintendent for Harford County Public Schools, an area around Maryland whose families are more highly impacted by the shutdown due to the number of federal employees furloughed. 

Schools with high rates of reduced meals have already taken steps to ensure students don’t miss meals under their care, such as offering breakfast after the bell rings so students don’t have to get to school early for it or providing snacks for those who stay after school for sports or other activities.

But the problem with missing meals would grow if the shutdown drags on into the holidays.

“There’ll be a tremendous impact, as I said, because what we’ll see is the vacation period coming up of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, summer, those become even more concerning for our student population that will not have SNAP benefits, or whose families won’t have SNAP benefits, because that will mean a longer period of time without access to meals,” Greene said. 

Different districts have varying abilities to deal with this lapse while also grappling with concerns a prolonged shutdown could tighten their bottom line.  

Multiple districts told The Hill they are expecting increased demand in food pantries already run out of their school buildings, with one saying their pantry, which regularly feeds 60 families, is likely to run before Thanksgiving if SNAP benefits are frozen.

Other food pantries ran out of school buildings are increasing efforts to work with the local community amid the shutdown to handle the influx of individuals. Some school officials are creating entirely new resources for students.

“We’re going to begin working on a pantry, a school-setup pantry in collaboration with our PTA and our staff to get weekly collections going of dried goods and other things … part of what we want to work on is normalize just anyone being able to use the pantry,” said Allison Persad, principal of the Young Women’s Leadership School of Astoria in Queens, New York. 

The main position schools say they must take is one of lead communicator, fielding calls from parents about what to do and what resources are available.

Districts have sent messages out to parents with lists of state and local resources to turn to, including one that has to accommodate a diverse population where 30 different languages spoken at students’ homes.

Districts are creating whole new parts of their websites, comprehensive Google Docs or dedicating an employee to communicate and talk with parents so the schools can fill in the gap for students in need when possible.

Becky Pringle, president of the National Educators Association (NEA), the largest teachers union in the country, predicts teachers will wind up spending out of their pocket to support students through food and other classroom materials.  

“Throughout my entire career, I did what I could to stand in the gap for my kids, and so that necessarily meant I added to my family budget, food that I would take into school materials and all of that that that is what educators do,” Pringle said, noting NEA had previously estimated educators would spend $500 out of pocket on school costs this year before the shutdown began.