Commissioner Fried to Governor: Use CARES Act Funding to Keep Children During Fed During COVID-19

Tallahassee Fla — On Friday, Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried sent a letter to the Governor requesting that part of Florida’s federal CARES Act funding provided for emergency relief to Florida schools and school districts be dedicated to supporting National School Lunch Program (NSLP) sponsors. Last year, more than 289 million school meals were served to 2.9 million Florida students, 71 percent of which were free or reduced-price meals. School meals are an important part of fighting food insecurity that affects 3 million Floridians, including 850,000 children, and is expected to worsen during COVID-19.

The letter follows a report published last month by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) highlighting nearly $262 million in financial losses experienced by Florida school lunch providers due to COVID-19. Schools and school districts may face up to an additional $370 million in nutrition funding losses in the first half of the 2020-21 school year due to the pandemic. States including Kentucky, North Carolina, Virginia, and others have spent CARES Act funds to support school nutrition programs.

Commissioner Fried also requested a full accounting by September 18 how the DeSantis administration has obligated or spent CARES Act funding so far. As an independently-elected member of the Florida Cabinet, Fried also requested that CARES Act funding be scheduled for discussion at the next Cabinet meeting on September 22.

The letter, which may be downloaded here and viewed here on Twitter reads as follows:

The Honorable Ron DeSantis
Governor
The Capitol
400 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001

September 11, 2020

Governor DeSantis,

As you know, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was signed into law on March 27, 2020, and provided $150 billion in economic assistance to state and local governments. Florida received an $8.32 billion allocation, with $4.58 billion available to Florida’s state government.

With an extraordinarily deep and broad economic crisis in our state, it is critical that Floridians are apprised of the ways in which this taxpayer funding is being expended. You recently noted that “those CARES ACT dollars are obligated already,” yet there has been no public accounting of the ways in which this funding has been obligated or expended.

As an independently-elected member of Florida’s Cabinet, I hereby request a full and complete account of state agency obligation and/or expenditure of CARES Act funding, to be provided no later than September 18. I also hereby request that an update on the disposition of these funds be placed onto the agenda of the next meeting of the Florida Cabinet on September 22.

There are numerous priorities in the public interest in which these CARES Act funds could be utilized, from providing adequate unemployment benefits to expanding the availability of COVID-19 testing. During this pandemic, one of Florida’s most emergent public health issues is worsening food insecurity that already plagues 3 million Floridians, including 850,000 children. Chronic hunger in Florida is expected to reach as high as 19 percent this year due to the state’s economic incumbrance.

Throughout COVID-19, my department has worked diligently to provide access to nutritious meals for students and ensure that Florida's children remain fed. During the 2019-2020 school year, over 400 sponsors at more than 4,000 meal sites served over 289 million meals to 2.9 million students through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), of which 71 percent of Florida students qualify for free or reduced-price meals. NSLP sponsors are reimbursed for each breakfast, lunch, and snack served that meet federal nutrition guidelines and meal components.

Amid the COVID-19 school closures, Florida schools transitioned from providing NSLP services to the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the Seamless Summer Option (SSO), together known as Summer BreakSpot, operating at schools, non-profits, and other community-based organizations. Our department worked to quickly authorize 3,775 sites across Florida, at which Summer BreakSpot sponsors served 59,247,081 meals to children from March through June.

Last month, the FDACS Division of Food, Nutrition and Wellness released a report detailing nearly $262 million in financial losses to NSLP sponsors during COVID-19, including public schools and non-profit private schools. Despite navigating supply disruptions, efforts to keep staff and students safe, and financial challenges, NSLP sponsors have continued to do an outstanding job of keeping Florida's children fed.

As these efforts continue despite unprecedented disruption to schools and school districts, NSLP sponsors will continue to incur financial hardships due to staffing instability; purchasing or leasing new equipment for meal distribution and delivery; and increased food costs as schools pivot to more expensive pre-packaged or shelf-stable food items. While expected to be financially self-sufficient, NSLP sponsors are struggling with increased costs and decreased reimbursements to nutrition fund balances. According to our department’s report, school districts may face up to $370 million in pandemic-related losses of nutrition funding in the first half of the 2020-21 school year.

School nutrition departments are essential to keeping students nourished and ready to learn — for many students, school meals are the only consistent meals on which they can rely. To ensure that NSLP sponsors can continue serving Florida’s children, I hereby request that a portion of CARES Act funding allocated for emergency relief to Florida schools and school districts be dedicated to supporting Florida’s school nutrition programs, including NSLP sponsors' ongoing service costs, defraying costs associated with school meal delivery, expanding existing service capacity, and maintaining current levels of operations.

This request is consistent with the way in which other states are expending their CARES Act allocations, including $112 million in California, $75 million in North Carolina, $30 million in Kentucky, $12 million in Vermont, and $3 million in Virginia. This may be fulfilled through use of the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund, the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund, and other funding vehicles.

It is crucial that a portion of the federal CARES Act funding is dedicated to support the National School Lunch Program in Florida. Our department, as well as schools, school districts, and NSLP sponsors, remain focused on providing Florida's students with access to nutritious meals. Ensuring the adequate funding of this nutrition is essential to preventing the worsening food insecurity that threatens our state’s future long after today’s pandemic ends.

Sincerely,

Nicole Fried
Commissioner of Agriculture

cc:       Kyle Troop, Director of Cabinet Affairs, Department of Agriculture
            Beau Beaubien, Director of Cabinet Affairs, Executive Office of the Governor
            Erin Sumpter, Director of Cabinet Affairs, Department of Legal Affairs
            Robert Tornillo, Director of Cabinet Affairs, Department of Financial Services

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