Gov. Bill Lee stays mum as a deadline looms to opt into a summer food program for kids

As a deadline looms for states to opt into a federal summer food program for kids, Gov. Bill Lee has been silent on his plans (Photo: Getty Images)

As a deadline looms for states to opt into a federal program to feed low-income kids during the summer, Gov. Bill Lee has yet to announce whether Tennessee will participate.

States have until Jan. 1 to decide whether they will give families with children the opportunity to draw on the federal nutrition program funding in 2026. 

Last year, citing rising administrative costs to the state, Lee made the decision to forgo Tennessee’s participation in Summer EBT, rejecting $84 million in federal funding allocated to feed more than 700,000 Tennessee children living in poverty during summer break, when in-school free and reduced costs breakfast and lunch are not available.

Lee has thus far declined to reveal his decision about whether Tennessee will rejoin the program, known as SUN Bucks, for the summer of 2026. The governor’s office did not respond to emailed questions Monday.

Meanwhile child advocates, faith leaders and elected officials have urged the governor to rejoin the Summer EBT program, citing the urgent need to address child nutrition in Tennessee, where one in five under the age of 18 face hunger.

Tennessee launches its summer food benefits this week. Most students in the state will miss out.

On Monday, a letter signed by 314 faith leaders across Tennessee urged Lee to rejoin the food program.

“To refuse federal partnership which can address that hunger is morally wrong, economically insane, and constitutionally inconsistent with the peace, safety, and happiness of the people,” said Rev. Gordon Myers, a retired Lutheran pastor from Memphis who signed onto the letter.

County mayors have also urged Lee to participate in the program.

“With the state’s decision to opt out of the federal Summer EBT program, families have lost access to a crucial benefit — $120 per eligible child — that helps pay for groceries when school cafeterias are closed,” a letter to Lee signed by more than 30 Tennessee county mayors said.

“Summer should be a time of joy, not hunger. Yet, this year, too many Tennessee children are going without the meals they need,” they wrote.

In a separate letter to the governor, Sen. Lamar London, a Memphis Democrat, called the Summer EBT program “a commonsense way to make sure kids don’t go hungry just because school is out. These funds help parents stretch tight grocery budgets and this shopping supports our supermarkets and state economy.”

Republican states reject EBT

The Summer EBT program was established by the Biden administration in 2023 as pandemic-era food programs wound down.

Akin to food stamps, SUN Bucks provide families a debit card loaded with cash to use at the grocery store during the months that in-school meals aren’t available. Parents who meet the low-income requirements received $40 per month per child.

In 2024, more than a dozen Republican governors rejected Summer EBT funding, citing reasons ranging from administrative costs to opposition to “attempts to expand the welfare state.”

Lee also announced in 2024 that the state would forgo the funding beginning in 2025, citing administrative costs. In 2024 the state spent $5 million to administer the program. 

But after facing blowback for opting out of the program, Lee launched a smaller state-funding pilot program. 

Lee’s Summer Nutrition Initiative last summer operated in 15 counties, providing 18,000 students the same per-child funding as the federal program: $120 for each child for a total state expenditure of $3 million in the selected counties. 

Children in Tennessee’s other 80 counties, including the state’s urban centers in Shelby and Davidson, weren’t eligible.

National advocates have noted that Summer EBT, which brings in a flow of federal cash for low-income families to spend at Tennessee grocery stores, has an economic impact beyond dinner tables. 

The 2024 economic impact of Summer EBT in Tennessee, before Lee rejected the funding, was more than $115 million, according to the Food Research & Action Center.