Received a surprise P-EBT card in the mail for your Tacoma Public Schools child? Here’s why
If your child is a student in Tacoma Public Schools, there’s a good chance you’ve recently received something called a Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer card — or P-EBT for short. If you have never applied for or qualified for food benefits for your child, you might be wondering one simple question: Why?
A P-EBT acts as a debit card that can be used in most Washington state grocery stores and has been made eligible for Tacoma Public Schools families through the Community Eligibility Provision, a federal school meal funding program run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The card was established due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in limited on-site meals at schools or child care facilities.
A P-EBT card can be used in most grocery stores and markets and to buy online food through Amazon, Walmart and Safeway/Albertsons. P-EBT cardholders can also earn twice the food for their money at participating farmers’ markets through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; the SNAP Market Watch keeps track of participating markets.
A list of what can be bought through SNAP and with a P-EBT card can be found on the USDA’s website.
Tacoma Public Schools families eligible for the program have been automatically enrolled by the district and should receive their card in the mail. Cards have been getting sent out in groups since August 29. If a family already has a P-EBT card, benefits have automatically been added to their card. It must be used within the 2022-2023 school year.
According to Paul Harris, the Tacoma Public School’s director of facility operations, nearly every school in the district is eligible for its students to obtain a P-EBT card.
It is addition to existing benefits, too. That means that nearly all students in the Tacoma School District will also receive free breakfast and lunch during the 2022-23 school year, regardless of income status, meaning the P-EBT card is not required for school meals.
The only students that are not eligible for the P-EBT card or free breakfast and lunches are those who are enrolled in Tacoma Public School’s Digital Campus or those who partake in district programs that are part-online and part-in-person, district strategic communications manager Kathryn McCarthy told the News Tribune.
How much money is on the card?
The card provides a lump sum payment of $391, which averages out to about $43 per month per child for the duration of the school year. This total was calculated by taking the average childcare center operating days monthly (18) and multiplying it by the daily meal reimbursement rate of $7.10, equaling $127.80.
Data from the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program shows a 34% reduction in meals served to children in care centers compared to 2019. The final figure of $43 was calculated by taking 34% of $127.80.
The benefits expire after having been on the card for 274 days, according to Norah West, spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services. West also encouraged people to use the money on the card even if they don’t necessarily need it.
“We encourage people to use it because it does help with the economy,” West told the Tacoma News-Tribune on Tuesday. “With inflation being what it is, every bit helps.”
Students who were enrolled in school in June 2022 were also eligible for summer P-EBT benefits, which provided a single lump sum amount of $391 — the daily reimbursement rate of $7.10 multiplied by 55 days of summer vacation.
There is no need to apply for a P-EBT card; a family with an eligible child will receive an approval letter along with the card in the mail. The P-EBT card looks like the card below and does not replace the Quest EBT Card or any other benefits.
Who is eligible?
Outside of Tacoma Public Schools, any child under the age of 6 that lived in a household with Basic Food Assistance between Sept. 1, 2021 and June 30, 2022, are eligible for P-EBT. Children under the age of 6 are also eligible for summer P-EBT benefits if part of a Basic Food household as of June 2022. Children over the age of 6 that are part of a Basic Food household and eligible for free or reduced-price meals are also eligible for summer P-EBT.
The requirements for Basic Food Assistance can be found in the Washington Administrative Code. Certain citizenship or alien status, also outlined in the Washington Administrative Code, will qualify a child for P-EBT.
Residents can apply for Basic Food Assistance online or by calling 877-501-2233. For help with P-EBT such as replacing a lost card or change of address, you can call the P-EBT Contact Center at (833) 518-0282.
