Free Food Benefit

Dallas ISD families can receive a free food benefit. Dallas ISD offers free meals to all its students making all families eligible to receive the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT), a one-time benefit provided by the State of Texas for eligible families to buy food.

The P-EBT of $285 per child is available for families that may have temporarily lost access to free and reduced-price meals because of school closures due to COVID-19. The amount is based on the average number of days schools are closed for the remainder of the school year.

More On The Free Food Benefit

Families who received benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in March of 2020 will have the benefit deposited into their account. Those families who are not receiving SNAP benefits but whose children attend Dallas ISD schools will have to fill out an application to receive the funds. You can apply for this benefit by visiting https://yourtexasbenefits.com/Learn/PEBT.

The Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer program, authorized through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, provides states a critical opportunity to provide support, efficiently and comprehensively, to families that rely on free or reduced-price school meals when school is open. Through P-EBT, states can issue eligible households an EBT card with the value of the free school breakfast and lunch reimbursement rates for the number of weekdays that schools are closed due to COVID-19 (estimated to be around $5.70 per day).

Eligible households include those with children certified to receive free or reduced-price school meals and children who attend schools that offer free school meals to all students. Schools must be closed for five or more consecutive days for families to participate.

Additionally, as we noted, earlier this week, Dallas ISD is in need of volunteers for food distribution.