Public funds for public foods

Sixteen months after rejecting $40 per month for three months on an EBT card for kids’ food assistance over concerns that EBT purchases do not guarantee appropriate nutrition, Kim Reynolds has found a way to provide the same dollar amount to low-income Iowa children — in the form of fresh, healthy food.

On Wednesday, the governor announced that the USDA had granted a waiver for a pilot summer food program, Healthy Kids Iowa, to replace the federal Summer EBT program (also known as SUN Bucks) in the state.

“Public funds are for public foods,” said Reynolds. “Our taxpayer dollars should not be going to private food stores. The real purpose of Summer EBT is to destroy food banks and take away their funding while private grocers whose patrons can already afford to buy food get rich off taxpayer dollars.”

No, of course the governor did not actually say that. I made that up, borrowing language from the arguments trumpeted by Reynolds’ critics in opposition to Education Savings Accounts, also known as “School Choice” and inaccurately described by that same opposition as “vouchers.”

My little rhetorical exercise there, just like Iowa Democrats’ consistent use of the term “vouchers,” was intentional. In my case, it was to point out the folly behind the idea that Iowa students should only be entitled to a state investment in their education if they accept whatever the system provides for them.

It amazes me how many people who are dead set against Iowa kids using their equal portion of education dollars at a school of their choice are also unbothered by the idea of their food assistance dollars being used on Mountain Dew, Doritos, Pizza Rolls and candy bars. Given how often State Auditor Rob Sand steps on a rake while “auditing” the ESA program, he should really pivot to investigating EBT food purchases.

Money for food assistance, provided by taxpayers, is supposed to be for food, not junk. That’s especially important considering the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted a decline in physical and mental health partly from lack of physical activity and unhealthy lifestyle choices — despite plentiful government food assistance such as Pandemic EBT (P-EBT.)

P-EBT was supposed to be temporary. The benefit originally equaled to the daily charge for a school breakfast and lunch — $5.70 per day — for kids eligible for free or reduced school lunches who lost access to those meals when Iowa schools shut down the remainder of the school year.

Put on new EBT cards for National School Lunch Program participants and existing cards for SNAP recipients, federal P-EBT funds covered the 54 days school was canceled, costing an estimated $69,494.468, which calculates to about 225,778 kids receiving P-EBT food help.

In 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act expanded P-EBT to cover summers through the end of the public health emergency. It also replaced the per-day calculation with a standard benefit amount and extended the benefit to SNAP-eligible children under the age of six placed in childcare. In 2021, families of 298,777 eligible Iowa children received $375 in Summer P-EBT for each child. In 2022 the benefit increased to $391, costing about $110 million for around 281,400 kids.

The May 11, 2023 expiration of the federal public health emergency made 2023 the last year for Summer P-EBT. The benefit no longer covered kids yet to start school, reducing its reach to about 240,000 kids. The benefit amount was also reduced to $120 per eligible child, or $40 per month for three months, the same as the Summer EBT amount rejected by Reynolds in 2023 and 2024.

No matter how explicitly it is emphasized as temporary assistance, any time government gives money without strings attached, those who receive it quickly grow accustomed to having it. When the arrangement expires, the money is not simply stopped — it is lost.

So the government decided to keep Summer P-EBT, minus the “P.” In an omnibus budget bill passed in a December 2022 lame duck vote, the $120-per-child aid from 2023 was rolled into a permanent program named Summer EBT, also called SUN Bucks.

It was to that program and its $29 million in federal SUN Bucks that Reynolds had the nerve to say no, citing rising childhood obesity issues that would not be addressed with more money under the same lax conditions without additional regard for nutrition.

She wasn’t wrong. As I’ve written before, USDA data shows American households spend more money on soft drinks than any other item. SNAP EBT benefits can be spent on any nontobacco, non-alcoholic food or beverage item that has a nutrition label — including candy bars, custom cakes and corn chips. SNAP households spend over 22% of their grocery money on pop and junk food.

No, those shopping habits aren’t much worse than the average non-SNAP consumer. But filling empty plates and empty cups with empty calories is not what has been asked of the American taxpayer here.

Obesity wasn’t the only reason Reynolds had to say no to SUN Bucks. In a world where the allure of lots of federal dollars hoodwinks a state, county or city into first spending big chunks of its own money, Iowans who value fiscal discipline certainly don’t mind our governor not taking the bait. In order to pass 40 bucks a month from the feds onto 7.5% of our population for use during three months out of the year, Iowa would have had to spend a couple million dollars to verify non-SNAP families and broker their SUN Bucks through the same EBT system used for SNAP-eligible families — while maintaining their records separately.

Instead, Reynolds offered to put administrative costs toward actual nutrition, seeking a USDA waiver to provide boxes of healthy food for the summer of 2024. State officials said it would not only cost less, but it would also feed about 300,000 kids — as much as 25% more than would be eligible for SUN Bucks.

The Biden administration said no. So Reynolds spent $900,000 on a different summer food program through the Iowa Department of Education. Critics lost their Tater-Tots, accusing her of causing child starvation.

In August 2024, Reynolds made the same request for this upcoming summer. In November, the Biden administration again said no. Critics had a cow. Again.

But in January, the second administration of President Donald Trump took office. On Wednesday, Reynolds announced that the USDA, now led by Sec. Brooke Rollins, approved the Healthy Kids Iowa summer pilot program.

This summer at any of what Reynolds says is over 500 access points statewide, eligible families will receive $40 worth of nutritious food — fresh fruits and vegetables, proteins, dairy and whole grains — at wholesale prices, which Reynolds’ office says will provide a much larger quantity of food than retail EBT purchases. Families will be able to select their own items, which promise to be “kid-friendly” and inclusive of dietary and cultural needs.

Some Iowans remain skeptical, saying benefits can’t be used if families aren’t able to get there because of transportation or schedules. Food could be wasted if they don’t have appropriate storage for perishable items or if the food doesn’t impress a kid’s picky palate.

According to those individuals, families would be better off with Summer EBT because it provides flexibility to choose what’s best for the kid.

So let me get this straight — different kids have different needs that are best met when dollars are spent flexibly? And just like that, we’ve circled back to my point about education funding in Iowa.

Here’s what school funding and food assistance for children have in common: Both are taxpayer-funded initiatives intended to give kids the best possible start in life in to the extent that government can provide. And in each, one side advocates for the recipient to choose how the dollars are spent while the other says, “We’ll determine what’s appropriate for you.”

And each has a mission that is easily misstated. When it comes to school, the mission is not a system or an institution. The mission is a good education — however that looks for each student.

When it comes to sustenance, the mission, believe it or not, is not food. The mission is nutrition. (That would that have been a killer slogan for the governor’s office, but too late — it’s mine.)

It’s the priorities that differ. One side champions your kids’ freedom to choose the best available school using the same slice of funding as other Iowa kids. But if you need some help accessing food, you have to pick the healthy stuff.

The other side says if your kids expect a taxpayer investment in their education, they’ll get what they get and they won’t throw a fit. But hey, buy all the candy and cookies and potato chips you want with your EBT dollars.

I’m a junk food junkie and a candy connoisseur. But I’m telling you now: nothing beats healthy foods and school choice.

Comments: 319-398-8266; althea.cole@thegazette.com