Alaska was one of 15 states to reject federal funding that would have provided direct grocery assistance this summer to thousands of families with children in the state who are facing increased food insecurity and rising food costs.
The new federal program would have meant an extra $120 per child in direct funds this summer to families who qualify for free or reduced lunches — about half of all kids in Alaska.
Officials with Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s administration cited a major food stamps backlog at the Alaska Division of Public Assistance as the reason for opting out of the program, which would have increased the workloads of staff who have been struggling for nearly a year to process benefits in a timely way.
Currently, there are around 8,000 Alaskans who have been waiting months to receive benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
“Eligibility technicians are working hard to clear up the backlog of SNAP applications and expect to have that completed by this spring,” Caroline Hamp, a spokeswoman with the Alaska Department of Education, said in a statement Jan. 10. “Once the backlog of SNAP applications has been cleared, the departments will reconsider launching the (program).”
The summer food program is meant to offset the absence of meals provided to children during the school year. It is set to provide $2.5 billion in grocery assistance to 21 million children nationwide beginning in June, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In Alaska, an estimated 58,000 children would have qualified for nearly $7 million in federal funds this summer, according to an analysis by the Food Research & Action Center, a national nonprofit that focuses on reducing poverty-related hunger.
In December 2022, Congress made the summer program permanent effective in 2024 after the USDA had tested it for several years. The states that chose not to opt in for this summer will have a chance to join for summer 2025, the USDA said.
Governors in several other Republican-led states opted out of the program for this year, giving a range of reasons for the decision. In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a written statement the few restrictions on how the funds were spent would “do nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic,” and that existing programs would suffice to support the state’s families.
Other states cited the administrative costs associated with the program.
In addition to Alaska, other states that opted out were: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming.
The Cherokee Nation is one of the four tribes in Oklahoma and Mississippi that will be a part of the inaugural summer.
Jeff Turner, a spokesperson for Dunleavy, did not comment on the governor’s stance on the program, deferring all questions to the Alaska Department of Education, which would have been responsible for administering the program.
Cara Durr, CEO of the Food Bank of Alaska, said her organization was “bummed” the state won’t be participating in the federal program, calling it a “great resource for kids.”
“I just hope that we as a state can get to a place with our systems where when something like this is available, we can participate and offer this to families,” Durr said. “Because right now, we’re still seeing really high levels of need.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting for this story.
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