MADISON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) announced Friday, June 25, that families of more than 250,000 students who participate in the National School Lunch Program will be receiving more than $80 million in food benefits through the School Pandemic EBT (P-EBT) program.
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During the 2020-2021 school year, many schools offered virtual or remote learning, which meant children no longer received meals at school, putting an added stress on limited household food budgets.
To help families, Congress authorized the P-EBT program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). School P-EBT benefits are being released to families on a rolling basis, and the second planned release of benefits begins the weekend of June 26.
School P-EBT benefits issued the weekend of June 26 will primarily go to eligible families whose children learned remotely part or full time in at least one month between December 2020 and March 2021.
Some families will receive benefits for August 2020 through March 2021 because their eligibility to receive School P-EBT benefits for August through November 2020 was confirmed after the initial round of benefits was released in March.
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