Families with kids at Vermont schools can now get money for summer meals

Eligible Vermont families will soon be able to get federal assistance to help pay for their children’s meals during summer break, the state announced in a Wednesday press release.

This benefit, called the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer, could provide up to $120 per child for low-income households as part of a new program launched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture . In Vermont, the program is administered by two state agencies, the Agency of Human Services and the Agency of Education, according to the release.

The program will provide another option for children who have traditionally relied on school meals during the school year to get access to consistent nutrition, Interim Education Secretary Zoie Saunders said in the release.

Some Vermont families will qualify automatically under the eligibility guidelines, and should receive a mailed notice and a new EBT card if they don’t already have one, the release said. The state plans to distribute those benefits starting on July 15.

But families can also apply to receive benefits if they don’t already qualify, though the application is not expected to open until August. More details on eligibility and how the program works are available on the Vermont program’s website .

Thirty-one states and three territories are participating in the program this year, according to the USDA website. But, as Vermont Public reported earlier this year , Vermont initially wasn’t planning to be one of them. State officials told the news outlet in January that Vermont would forego the program this year because it didn’t have the administrative capacity to operate it.

Amanda Wheeler, a spokesperson for Gov. Phil Scott, said in an email Wednesday that the decision not to apply initially was about feasibility.

“Vermont did not initially submit a notice to apply because our agencies and departments were working through how to comply with the federal requirements while simultaneously standing up the appropriate systems for the summer 2025 program,” she wrote.

Since that time, the state has been working with the federal government to get more flexibility, which is why the program has been able to move forward, she wrote.

In response to a question about the program at his weekly press conference Wednesday, Scott said, “I’m just thrilled that we were able to get through the bureaucratic nightmare that the feds had created.” He said the federal government provided Vermont a “broad waiver,” but until yesterday, he hadn’t been sure whether it would accept the conditions the state had proposed.

According to the release, the two state agencies plan to distribute more information about the program to schools and families in the coming weeks.

“Ensuring that children have access to nutritious food year-round is fundamental to their well-being,” Agency of Human Services Secretary Jenney Samuelson said in the release. She added that the new program’s launch “demonstrates the agency’s commitment to supporting families and helping children thrive, especially during the summer months when children do not have access to school-provided meals.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Families with kids at Vermont schools can now get money for summer meals .