State lawmakers on a budget subcommittee surprised child nutrition advocates late last month by voting to eliminate a new federal food benefit program used by roughly 46,000 Montana households during its inaugural year in 2024.
The Summer EBT program, also known as SUN Bucks, is a federally funded program that provides families with preloaded $120 grocery cards for each eligible child for use in the summer months.
According to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, more than 76,000 children were issued Summer EBT cards last year, using more than $9 million in federal money for basic groceries to complement meals received in K-12 public schools. Due to administrative delays, the 2024 round of cards were issued in October and expired in 122 days.
In accordance with federal program requirements, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte requested roughly $600,000 in his executive budget to cover Montana’s share of Summer EBT’s administrative costs over the next two years, which would have drawn down nearly $20 million in federal funds. However, the Legislature’s health and human services budget subcommittee voted 5-4 on Feb. 21 to strike the allocation, along with a separate proposal to fund 12 new positions at DPHHS — only one of which, the department informed MTFP, would have supported Summer EBT.
Critics of the allocations argued the program was duplicative of other summer food initiatives for K-12 students such as summer lunches and backpack programs and objected to staffing requirements at DPHHS to support Summer EBT, reports the Montana Free Press. Proponents pushed back, however, noting that the subcommittee could approve continuing the program without committing to the new agency hires.
“Having well-nourished children leads to quality adults,” Sen. Emma Kerr-Carpenter, D-Billings, told fellow subcommittee members, “so I see this as a worthy investment in our future in Montana.”
Samantha Dennison, child nutrition manager at the nonprofit Montana Food Bank Network, told MTFP the vote to strike the state share of Summer EBT and effectively halt the program, which primarily caters to lower-income families, was entirely unexpected. She argued the grocery benefit, rather than being duplicative, actually complements existing school-based summer food programs by enabling parents to buy costly items like meat and berries at a time when “we’re all hurting to put food on the table.”
“In this day and age, with that additional benefit, they can buy a dozen eggs,” Dennison said, adding the program also alleviates strain on local churches and food pantries. “When we don’t give families empowerment to make those choices themselves, then we put the pressure on other resources. It’s not like those kids are just not going to eat.”
Though Summer EBT initially launched last year, the program traces its roots to the early school closures of the COVID-19 era, when the U.S. Department of Agriculture began automatically distributing preloaded grocery cards to eligible children under what was then called Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer. Between March 2020 and August 2021, DPHHS estimated that it distributed $67 million in federal P-EBT funds to Montana families, and when the state agency initially opted not to participate in the benefit program for a second year, dozens of organizations including the Montana Food Bank Network urged it to reconsider.
DPHHS ultimately reversed course, and Montana became one of the first states to pursue participation in the permanent Summer EBT benefit ahead of its 2024 rollout. Former state Superintendent Elsie Arntzen touted the program as another tool for families during months when school doors are closed, with her office describing it as an “evidence-based policy” that “reduces child hunger and supports healthier diets.”
Dennison stressed that federal funding for Summer EBT benefits will continue to flow to Montana for the coming summer of 2025, with her organization and others continuing to focus on outreach efforts to help families understand and access the program. And on Monday, Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, told MTFP she hasn’t yet given up hope of carrying Summer EBT forward beyond this year, noting there’s still time to revisit the state funding question through the House Appropriations Committee, on which she sits.
“I’m not giving up,” Caferro said. “It’s kids.”
