Families of some 21 million children who usually get free meals at school will be eligible for $40 a month to help pay for groceries in the summer, through the federal summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program.

Not in Alabama, though – and lawmakers currently can’t agree about whether, after passing on the chance to do summer EBT this year, to fund it for the summer of 2025. State advocates say the state shouldn’t miss out on the chance to feed more children.

“It’s a huge return on investment, and we’d hate to leave that money on the table that could help so many people,” Laura Lester, CEO of Feeding Alabama, told AL.com recently.

The Alabama House of Representatives tabled an amendment last week that would allocate $13 million from the state’s education budget to administer the federal summer EBT program, which provides families with $40 a month for each eligible child, or $120 over the course of the summer.

About half a million Alabama children would be eligible to receive the benefits, according to the Food Research and Action Center.

The topic is expected to come up again in the Senate as soon as Wednesday, where a committee will have a final chance to approve start-up funds. If the state puts in $10 to $15 million, according to estimates, the federal government would send an estimated $65 million in benefits to Alabama families.

Congress created summer EBT in 2023 to provide children regular access to meals while school is out over the summer months. States are required to opt in to the program and front half of the administrative cost, and in return, the feds will fund benefits that parents can spend on groceries and meals.

That front-end investment could bring more than $100 million in economic activity to grocers and farmers in the state, according to a recent analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

But so far, Alabama has failed to budget the money needed to start the program. Alabama is one of just 14 states that declined to opt in to summer 2024 benefits, and could again miss out on federal funds for 2025 if lawmakers don’t approve the budget proposal during the current legislative session.

Budget sponsor Rep. Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, told lawmakers on the floor last Tuesday that he is not opposed to state support for the program, but needs more time to understand how the process will work.

Shortly after the House voted to table the proposal, Senate Democrats brought the issue to the chamber floor, calling on their colleagues to rethink their priorities.

“Children are going hungry over the summer, but we’re going to be willing to give these organizations like this all the tax breaks that they want,” Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, said on the floor, referring to a bill to fund a multimillion dollar farm center.

Summer EBT is a meal replacement program that is separate from federal summer meal programs, which are often administered by local organizations. But few Alabama children appear to be taking advantage of those programs.

According to the Food Research and Action Center, only 6% of Alabama children who rely on free school meals received summer lunches. An AL.com report also found that many rural communities in the state had no access to free meal programs last year.

The Alabama State Department of Education did not respond to questions about the state of local meal programs, or whether it supported summer EBT.

LaTrell Clifford Wood, a hunger policy advocate with Alabama Arise, said the issue comes down to access: Current summer meal programs are often well-intentioned, but are sometimes unreachable for families. When parents work during the day, it can be hard to pick up lunch and breakfast during the program’s limited time frames, she said.

Summer EBT provides an alternative to in-person meal services. She said it could give families a level of “autonomy and dignity” to buy food that they know their children will eat.

Cayce Davis, a child nutrition director at Elmore County Schools, said about half of her district’s students qualify for free and reduced-price lunch, meaning many also rely on free meals throughout the summer.

Her community, she said, is lucky to have quality summer meal programs, which can take a lot of work to run.

If the EBT program is approved, she said, lawmakers should consider how to make the process smoother for school staff. Schools don’t administer the EBT benefits, but are often called on to provide student data. They’re also who parents tend to call if things go wrong.

“If there’s even one child that’s got their needs met, to me it’s a great thing,” she said. “But there has to be proper support for administering it, because you’ve got to find the path to get those benefits to the ones that are eligible for them, and that’s some of the difficulty.”

Advocates also are discussing ways to increase state support for breakfast and lunch programs throughout the school year.