-- Shares Facebook Twitter Reddit Email In December, Mallory McManus, a spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families in Florida — which administers the federal school lunch program in the state — told reporters that the state planned on refusing over $250 million dollars in new federal food assistance money. That money, which was available through the US Department of Agriculture’s new SUN Bucks program, would have given $120 of additional summer grocery money to the parents of the 2.1 million school-aged children who receive free or reduced-price lunches throughout the school year in Florida.
As food insecurity experts have established, child hunger spikes during the summer because millions lose access to the school breakfast, lunches and afterschool meals they receive during the regular school year. “We anticipate that our state’s full approach to serving children will continue to be successful this year without any additional federal programs that inherently always come with some federal strings attached,” McManus said. Related "I do not believe in welfare": Some state Republicans opt out of Summer EBT program for hungry kids It’s unclear what exactly the state’s opposition was; according to the Orlando Sentinel , running the new program would have cost Florida $12 million in administration costs, a fraction of the $250 million dollars received in return.
However, a fear of “federal strings” is an attitude that’s now seemingly baked into Fl.