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A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to require Tennessee to use available federal funding to provide summer grocery funds to low-income students, bucking Gov. Bill Lee’s repeated insistence that the state doesn’t need the federal dollars to help feed 700,000 children during school breaks.
Last summer, the majority of low-income students across Tennessee did not receive supplemental grocery funds for the first time in five years, after Lee declined to enroll the state into the 2025 federal program, known as summer EBT or SUN Bucks.
Lee effectively rejected an estimated $75 million in federal funds by doing so, despite entreaties from Democrats, local county mayors, and children’s advocates who argued the funds helped bridge the summer months when students don’t have access to school meals.
Now, a Republican-backed effort to require Tennessee to participate is advancing through the General Assembly and would sidestep a decision from the executive branch not to participate.
Senate Bill 1911 passed committees in both the Senate and the House on Wednesday. The legislation would require the state to apply for the SUN Bucks program any year it is offered.
Sen. Paul Bailey, a Republican from Sparta who is sponsoring the bill, pointed out that all of Tennessee’s neighboring states are already participating in the program. If passed, the bill would become law immediately, though it’s not clear if Tennessee could opt in for 2026 summer benefits months after the December deadline.
Lee’s administration first declined to enroll in the 2025 summer program in late 2024, citing administrative costs the state would have to bear to continue distributing the federal funds. Critics argued the state’s cost, around $5 million, still netted Tennessee a very high return on investment on the $75 million in federal funds.
After questions from lawmakers, the governor’s office quickly stood up a similar but much smaller state-run program, spending $3 million to distribute benefits in 15 counties to about 25,000 children. The program only saved Tennessee about $2 million and benefited far fewer students. Tennessee’s largest counties, including Shelby and Davidson, were excluded from the program.
Lee has again proposed $3 million to fund the smaller program this year.
A legislative analysis estimated Bailey’s bill would cost the state about $7.9 million to draw down more than $95 million in federal funds.
Sen. Bo Watson, a Hixson Republican who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, warned the bill could become a “math problem” as lawmakers advance legislation not currently funded in the governor’s budget.
If Bailey’s bill were to pass, lawmakers could remove Lee’s proposed $3 million program to help fund SUN Bucks.
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.