What can i buy with p-ebt card texas

Texas families with students who previously qualified for Pandemic Food Benefits (or the P-EBT Card) should check their balance for a recent rollout in funds for the summer of 2021. Eligible families should have already received $375 per child. These benefits act as SNAP benefits.

Who is eligible?

Children who are certified for free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
Children who attend a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2 (P2) school that offers free meals to all students.*
Children born after Aug. 1, 2014, in families who received SNAP benefits for at least one month between October 2020 and June 2021.

*Contact your child’s school if you have questions about the school’s participation in these programs.

If you need to apply or have been denied, you can apply for free legal help by visiting www.LoneStarLegal.org or calling 1-800-733-8394.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission administers P-EBT.

Your P-EBT frequently asked questions can be found here.

Lone Star Legal Aid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit law firm focused on advocacy for low-income and underserved populations. Lone Star Legal Aid serves the millions of people at 125% of federal poverty guidelines that reside in 72 counties in the eastern and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, and 4 counties of Southwest Arkansas. Lone Star Legal Aid focuses its resources on maintaining, enhancing, and protecting income and economic stability; preserving housing; improving outcomes for children; establishing and sustaining family safety and stability, health and well‐being; and assisting populations with special vulnerabilities, like those who have disabilities, or who are elderly, homeless, or have limited English language skills. To learn more about Lone Star Legal Aid, visit our website at www.lonestarlegal.org. 

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April 20, 2022

P-EBT benefits will be provided for the 2021–2022 school year. If your child is eligible, benefit amounts will vary because it is based on each student’s COVID-related absences, virtual attendance and school closures. This is different from previous P-EBT benefit amounts that were the same for all students at a campus.

There is no online application for P-EBT, but your child must be certified for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to receive P-EBT. (See details below about NSLP eligibility.)

Your school or district will send information about eligible students to Texas Health and Human Services to issue benefits. This includes information on students’ free or reduced-price meal eligibility and information on COVID-related absences, virtual attendance and school closures. Benefits are $7.10 for each eligible day.

If your child is eligible to receive P-EBT benefits, a notice will be mailed to you. If this is your first time receiving P-EBT benefits, the notice will have information on how to claim your benefits and get a P-EBT card mailed to you. If you have received P-EBT before, benefits will be issued on your Lone Star Card or P-EBT Card. If you no longer have that card, call the Lone Star Help Desk at 877-541-7905.

P-EBT benefits for the first semester (August 2021–December 2021) should be issued in late April 2022. The second semester (January 2022–June 2022) benefits will be issued in July 2022. You might receive benefits for both semesters in July.

To learn more about eligibility, applying and getting your P-EBT benefits, visit hhs.texas.gov/pebt, or call the P-EBT Call Center at 833-442-1255, Monday–Friday, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. Central time.

National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Eligibility

Children can be eligible for NSLP in different ways. They are eligible if they have one of the following:

NSLP household meal application approved by the child nutrition department.
- Families are encouraged to submit a meal application by April 29, 2022 to receive P-EBT benefits in a timely manner. However, meal applications may still be approved up until June 30, 2022.
Direct certification through state or local programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, TANF, federally funded Head Start or Early Head Start, foster care, migrant or homeless youth.
Enrollment in Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools or Provision 2 (P2) schools.
- Children attending these schools are NSLP-eligible and do not need to complete a NSLP household application. If you are uncertain about whether your child’s school is a CEP or P2 school, contact the child nutrition department (contact your child’s school to reach the child nutrition director).

Families with students relying on free or reduced-cost meals at school can now receive a single payment of $375 as a part of a summer round of Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer food aid, which has previously provided single payments of up to $1,200 for eligible students.

The federal benefit provides food aid for the 3.7 million eligible low-income children in Texas who lost access to free and reduced-price meals when the pandemic first shuttered schools. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission will allocate more than $1.4 billion to families that have struggled to afford food during the pandemic for this latest round in coordination with the Texas Department of Agriculture and the Texas Education Agency.

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday that families who applied for P-EBT aid for the 2020-21 school year and already received benefits will automatically receive the $375 payment, along with families of children born after Aug. 1, 2014, who relied on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits this summer. SNAP provides food aid for low-income adults.

The P-EBT card can be used at all places that accept SNAP payments, including grocery stores and supermarkets.

“As children across the state start going back to school, we’re thankful we can provide this added benefit so Texans can provide nutritious food for their families,” said Wayne Salter, deputy executive commissioner of access and eligibility services for Texas Health and Human Services.

For families that have not applied, they now have until Sept. 13 for the previous round of pandemic EBT aid, which could range up to $1,200 depending on how often students attended in-person classes at their schools.

Schools and districts will work with families to notify them if they qualify for the National School Lunch Program and are able to receive Pandemic EBT food aid. The application for free and reduced-cost meals will remain open until Aug. 28 for the upcoming school year.

Some families that didn’t previously qualify for EBT food aid may qualify for the summer amount. If their children attended Texas schools during the last month of the school year, they could still be eligible depending on their circumstances.

Jamie Olson, director of government affairs for Feeding Texas, worked with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to help reach families that needed food aid. Feeding Texas is a state association of food banks.

Olson said she believes the EBT aid model will continue beyond the pandemic.

“Childhood hunger drastically increases during those summer months when kids are out of school, and families are having to stretch their resources thinner since those school meals are not available during the summertime,” Olson said. “This EBT model is so much more efficient and effective on combating childhood hunger than traditional models that are based on providing meals in person to kids at essentially community sites.”

Disclosure: Feeding Texas has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Texas Health and Human Services is partnering with the Texas Department of Agriculture and the Texas Education Agency to provide school year 2021–2022 Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) benefits to eligible children.

School year 2021–2022 P-EBT is for families with children (K–12) who are certified for free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and who temporarily lost access to free or reduced-price school meals during the school year due to COVID-19. Receiving free meals at school does not automatically make a child NSLP certified or eligible for P-EBT benefits.

P-EBT benefits can be used the same way as SNAP benefits.

There is no online application for school year 2021–2022 P-EBT benefits.

P-EBT for School Aged Children

There is no online P-EBT application for school year 2021–2022 P-EBT like there was for school year 2020–2021 P-EBT. You might need to complete a NSLP household application, provided by your school, for your child to be eligible. Refer to the question, "How does my child become eligible for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) for the 2021–2022 school year?"

Your child's school will provide HHS with a list of NSLP-eligible students that have COVID-related absences, virtual attendance, or school closures during the 2021–2022 school year.

If your child is eligible for P-EBT benefits for school year 2021–2022, you will be mailed a notice beginning in April and/or July. This notice will include the amount of benefits your child will receive, an explanation of how their benefit amount was determined, and let you know if there are further steps you need to take. For more information about how you will receive P-EBT benefits, see "How will I get my child's P-EBT benefits?"

P-EBT benefits for school year 2021–2022 vary for each child because benefits are based on the number of days a child did not receive free or reduced-price meals due to COVID-related absences, virtual attendance, or days that schools were closed due to COVID-19. The daily benefit amount of $7.10 will be issued for each day a child is eligible for P-EBT. For example, if a child was absent for seven days because they stayed home after testing positive for COVID-19 and a school closed due to COVID-19 for three days, they would receive a P-EBT benefit of $71.00 (10 days x $7.10).

P-EBT benefits will begin being issued in April for the first semester (August 2021 to December 2021) and in July for the second semester (January 2022 to June 2022). Children may receive benefits for one or both semesters based on their eligibility, however, children from some schools may receive all their benefits in July. This is because some schools may provide all their student information to HHS at once, rather than separately for each semester. Eligible students identified as homeless, foster care or migrant may receive their benefits starting in July.

If your household currently receives SNAP or you previously received P-EBT, we'll put your benefits on your existing Lone Star Card or P-EBT card if the information provided by schools/districts matches the information we have. If the information is different, we will send a new P-EBT card in the mail.

If you no longer have your P-EBT card, call at the Lone Star Help Desk at 800-777-7328 to request a new one.

If you do not currently receive SNAP and have not received P-EBT benefits before, you will be sent a notice in the mail with a claim code. You can use this code to claim your child's P-EBT benefits by going to YourTexasBenefits.com or by calling the P-EBT Call Center. Detailed instructions are included in the notice. You have 90 days to claim your benefits.

Call the Lone Star Help Desk at 800-777-7328 for a replacement card.

If you receive a claim code in the mail for P-EBT benefits, follow these instructions from your notice to claim your child's P-EBT benefits.

To claim your child's benefits online:

Log in or create an online account at YourTexasBenefits.com.
1. If you have an account, enter your username and password.
2. If you do not have an account, click 'Create a new account.'
After you log in or create your account, click 'P-EBT Benefits' to go to the page where you can enter your claim code.

To claim your child's benefits by phone, call the P-EBT Call Center at 833-442-1255.

To claim your child's benefits using the claim code, online or over the phone, you will also need to provide:

Your child's name, Social Security number* (if they have one), and their date of birth; and
The name of the child's parent or guardian, the parent or guardian's Social Security number* (if they have one), and their date of birth.

*Social Security numbers are preferred, but not required.

After you claim your child's benefits using the claim code online or over the phone, their benefits will be processed within two days. You will receive a P-EBT card in the mail with your child's benefits loaded on it.

Receiving free meals at school does not mean a student is eligible for NSLP, and it does not automatically make a student eligible for P-EBT. Some Texas campuses have offered free meals to all students during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Receiving these free meals at school does not automatically make a student eligible for P-EBT. To be NSLP-certified, you must meet individual income eligibility requirements unless a child attends a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2 (P2) school. If you are uncertain about whether your child's school is a CEP or P2 school, contact the school.

If your child does not attend a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2 (P2) school, you must complete a NSLP household application and be certified eligible by the child nutrition department. It is recommended that you submit it to your child's school no later than April 29, 2022. Contact your child's school for more information and to request an application. If your child or household participates in other state programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, or TANF or has foster, migrant, or homeless status, they are considered directly certified and do not need to complete a NSLP household application.

For school year 2021–2022, P-EBT benefits are based on eligibility for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the number of days a child did not receive free or reduced-price meals at school because of a COVID-related absence, virtual attendance, or school closures. This is different from P-EBT for previous school years when children all received the same benefit amount if they were NSLP-eligible. To learn more, see "How much money will my child receive for school year 2021–2022 P-EBT?"

A review of your benefits can be requested between August 15 and October 14. To request a review, call the P-EBT Call Center at 833-442-1255, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central time.

After your request is submitted, HHS will review the benefit decision and contact your child's school for more information. The review process can take two to five weeks to complete.

If the review determines that your child was eligible for more school year P-EBT benefits than they received, those benefits will be issued to your Lone Star Card or P-EBT Card.

Requests for review of a benefit decision can only be submitted once per household, and all review decisions are final.

If you think your child was eligible for more benefits than they received , you can request a review of your benefits between August 15 and October 14. To request a review, call the P-EBT Call Center at 833-442-1255, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central time.

After your request is submitted, HHS will review the benefit decision and contact your child's school for more information. The review process can take two to five weeks to complete.

If the review determines that your child was eligible for more school year P-EBT benefits than they received, those benefits will be issued to your Lone Star Card or P-EBT Card.

Requests for review of a benefit decision can only be submitted once per household, and all review decisions are final.

You can call the P-EBT Call Center at 833-442-1255, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Central time.

Children born on or after August 1, 2015 that are part of a household receiving SNAP are eligible for P-EBT benefits for school year 2021-2022 (August 2021 – June 2022). Benefits for eligible children will only be issued for the months they were receiving SNAP.

There will be two benefit issuances for childcare aged children. The first benefit issuance for August 2021 – December 2021 will be $100.95 if you are eligible for all months ($20.19 per month). The second issuance for January 2022 – June 2022 will be $139.02 if you are eligible for all months ($23.17 per month).. Both benefit amounts will be issued separately in August.

The P-EBT benefit amount for childcare aged children is based on the number of free meals provided at childcare centers from federal funding through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

There will be two issuances for childcare aged children eligible for P-EBT. The first benefit, for August 2021 – December 2021, and second benefit, for January 2022 – June 2022 will be issued in August.

P-EBT benefits will be placed on existing Lone Star Cards.

You can request a review of your child’s eligibility by calling the P-EBT Call Center at 833-442-1255, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Central time.

You can call the P-EBT Call Center at 833-442-1255, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Central time.