Bill Lee's Tennessee: Hungry Kids, Underfunded Schools
TN Governor refuses federal funds to provide summer meals to kids
The Wall Street Journal digs deeper into a story I wrote about back in February.
When the federal government offered to cover the cost of feeding Tennessee’s poor children last summer, state officials accepted the cash.
Some $84 million in federal money flowed into Tennessee. The families of 700,000 kids were given $120 per child to buy food during the summer months when school is out.
Washington made the same offer for the coming summer. This time, Tennessee said no.
The WSJ story notes that Republican-led states are conflicted over accepting the Summer EBT funds - 14 are taking the money, 13 (like Tennessee) are not.
Instead of ensuring all kids have access to food this summer, Lee is starting his own program - one that leaves the fast majority of kids in need without access to food.
“Instead of serving 700,000 Tennessee children through Summer EBT, TDHS’s program will reach a max of 25,000 children. Despite spending nearly as much as it would take to serve the entire state, the Tennessee program will reach less than 4% of the children that received Summer EBT in 2024.”
Lee’s program comes up woefully short of the clear need:
Instead, Lee will create a program that will serve only 15 of Tennessee’s 95 counties and leave out 675,000 kids. The state financial obligation is nearly identical in both programs.
This plan is not conservative. In business terms, the ROI is terrible. So, it’s both dumb and mean.
The move comes at a time when the Trump Administration is moving aggressively to shift significant financial responsibility back to the states. In the case of Tennessee, our leaders have chosen to let kids live out their days hungry - while funds are readily available to feed them.
On a related note, a program that helped schools provide local food for school lunches and helped food banks also access this food was cut by the USDA:
The Guardian reports:
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has slashed two programs that provided more than $1bn for schools and food banks to purchase food from local farms and ranchers.
A chart of awards for the two local food programs funded by the USDA tells the story of how much states stand to lose as a result of the cuts.
Tennessee was awarded more than $20 million for these efforts in FY 2025.
And, in news I reported yesterday, Tennessee kids now attend the lowest-funded schools in the Southeast - a state investment $1000 per student lower than Mississippi’s.
I’m reminded of these words from the Book of Matthew:
For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
Absolutely infuriating. Bill Lee doesn’t care about Tennesseans - children OR adults. His leadership is petty and ugly.
to leave hungry children to scrounge for food should be illegal. Then being blatantly mean is not either. I really think this administration stays up at night to see now many ways they can hurt kids