HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer assistance for students has been delayed until the summer of 2024, Department of Public Health and Social Services officials announced Friday in a press release.
Money for P-EBT, a type of food stamp card provided to eligible students for school meals missed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, was supposed to be distributed by Dec. 31 per the Guam state plan approved by the United States Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service, but that’s not going to happen.
“Both Summer 2022 and Summer 2023 had the intended distribution date of Dec. 31, 2023. However, due to the following factors: logistics, contracting and data reconciliation with (the Guam Department of Education), the (Department of Public Health and Social Services) intends to distribute the P-EBT cards by Summer 2024,” Public Health said in the release.
Both plans were approved in October, but Public Health said the holdup is a result of GDOE providing “limited data regarding COVID-related absenteeism.”
“FNS was unable to approve the (school year) 2021-2022 plan. The decision, according to Young Ihm, chief of the quality control branch of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program under FNS, (school year) 21-22 … requires a path for parents to report additional outage days, which is then backed up by DOE data and records on absences,” Public Health said in the release.
“GDOE did apply for the school year 2021 to 2022 P-EBT programs, but the attendance data provided was affected by online instruction and was insufficient for USDA purposes,” GDOE Superintendent Kenneth Erik Swanson added.
While it’s been over a year since both departments have worked on securing P-EBT assistance for Guam, Swanson said in the release that the agencies also are seeking aid for fiscal year 2024.
No specific date for distribution of P-EBT assistance has been provided. Public Health said it will inform the public at a later date.
