More than 500,000 Nevadans rely on SNAP food benefits. Children who qualify for SNAP are also eligible for free school lunch programs, which could be undermined as more people lose benefits. (WavebreakmediaMicro/Adobe Stock)
Nevada educators are sounding the alarm about cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, saying they will undermine school food programs and lead to more hungry students.
President Donald Trump signed the Republican funding bill on July 4, cutting food assistance by $186 billion over the next decade.
Alexander Marks, deputy executive director of field and communications for the Nevada State Education Association, said an estimated 130,000 Nevadans could lose food benefits.
“Cutting SNAP means more students arriving at school without breakfast or lunch,” Marks pointed out. “That’s going to lead to lower concentration, poor test scores, higher absenteeism.”
Conservative supporters of the bill said the cuts target waste, fraud and abuse and are necessary to fund other administration priorities, including tax cuts and increased immigration enforcement. Federal funding for free school lunches is tied to the number of people eligible, so school’s budgets could be strained even further.
Nevada is projected to lose $19 million in funding over the next two years, and $25 million every two years afterward. If the state has to backfill the money, other spending priorities will suffer.
Marks noted the administration is also ending grants which allowed school districts to purchase produce from local farmers.
“We certainly have to vote our values. These are, at the end of the day, political choices,” Marks acknowledged. “If we want leaders who want to put kids before corporations and handouts, then we have to hold folks like Trump and Lombardo and their allies accountable.”
In 2023, Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed a bill which would have guaranteed free school lunches to all children. A similar bill died in committee earlier this year. In a statement, the Governor emphasized more than 80% of Nevada schoolchildren remain eligible for free school lunches.
Related: Nevada to be hit hard by SNAP cuts
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