Parents across Maine have been left confused in recent days by their children receiving Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards in the mail from the state.
Maine schoolchildren are receiving the cards as part of the final round of a Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) food assistance program meant to help support families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
EBT cards are traditionally distributed not to minors but to adults who apply for welfare benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
[RELATED: EBT Cards for Kids? It’s Happening in Maine…]
Earlier this month the Maine DHHS announced that it had distributed over $166 million to the families of more than 150,000 Maine children through the program, called the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program.
The cards started landed in mailboxes last week.
The P-EBT program is federally funded, and began in May 2020 as part of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 — signed into law under President Donald Trump.
This latest round of P-EBT funds will be the last the program disperses, due to the end of the federal Public Health Emergency on May 11, 2023.
Eligibility for the program for school aged children in Maine is based on three criteria:
- They must attend a school that was closed or had reduced attendance due to COVID-19 for five consecutive days;
- They must have been absent from school or attended remotely for five or more consecutive days due to COVID-19;
- They must be eligible for free or reduced price meal benefits under the USDA National School Lunch Program.
Because all Maine students currently qualify for free lunch under the state’s school nutrition plan, in order to receive the P-EBT cards students only need to meet the first two criteria listed above.
The attendance requirements alone — without any means testing — do not preclude affluent families who may have had a child who missed school due to COVID-19 from receiving the P-EBT cards.
Eligible students will receive a card loaded with $8.18 for each day that they were absent or attended remotely due to COVID-19, and will be able to spend that money on food items in various stores throughout Maine.
The Windham Raymond School Nutrition Program, part of Regional School Unit 14 (RSU 14), said in a Facebook post Saturday that the Maine Department of Education revealed to them that 80 percent of all Maine students are receiving these benefits.
Below is an email the Yarmouth School Department sent to their community regarding the program in response to parents throughout the district who were curious as to why their child received a P-EBT card.
The department stated that they were initially unaware that the State of Maine was providing the cards to their students.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="22525 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=22525">7 Comments
…nice! Give the kids some bartering power!
Bribes to kids and parents can’t get anyone on the phone in state government.
Feels like money laundering.
We got one. Freaked me right out. Thought my daughter’s identity was stolen. We are way over
income guidelines for any state benefits. I tried to call dhhs as soon as I got the card. Couldn’t get through the automated maze to get to a human. Crazy liberal programs. What a waste of taxpayer money
What bothers me about this is the fact that our government has that much information about our kids and their families to be able to sort out eligibility. And now all the eligible kids/families have a record of having EBT cards that will forever be part of their government records. In other words, they get labeled as POOR for the rest of their lives.
Every time the government does things like this, they create the headaches of tracking down kids/families who never use those card or use them for illegitimate purchases.
What ever happened to privacy? Big Brother always finds a way to keep track of you from cradle to grave (and beyond).
Cut the crap!!!
With unreserved confidence I trust our federal and state governments to always carefully monitor how taxpayer money is spent as if it were their own. Vote in favor of Pine Tree Power, buy an EV, get another booster shot and don’t ask questions!
Unbelievable I’m all for children getting everything they need but we all know this will be used by people who are perfectly able to work and provide for them but they don’t because we tax payers do there are unlimited jobs available I’m mad and truly disappointed this will only teach our next generation they will get everything they want without having to work or learn completely discusted
Ahh, the powers of DHHS(Department of hell and human sacrifice) to bribe and buy votes with taxpayers money! A year after all the fakedemic crap went on this is a blatant bribe by the leftist regime to maintain their power! That’s as they destroy out way of life and prepare us for living in cubicles and eating bugs while not owning anything and liking it!