A $26.3 million grant to help feed Illinois kids with local, fresh food has been canceled by the Trump administration.
The Local Food for Schools and Child Care Cooperative Agreement grant was signed in January to expand the program to include child care centers. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) now says local farmers will lose out on the money they were expecting.
ISBE estimates the grant would have allowed up to 4,017 schools and 1,250 child care centers across the state to purchase fresh food to feed children.
“The decision to cancel this funding is deeply disappointing and a disservice to Illinois children, families, and farmers,” said State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders in a press release. “These grants were designed to ensure that students in our schools and child care centers have access to fresh, locally-sourced food while also supporting our state’s agricultural economy.”
“This funding was essential to provide Illinois schools and child care sites with nutritious meals that fuel learning and growth,” Sanders added.
The cuts to Illinois’s programs are part of a larger roughly $1 billion cut by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for local food purchasing for schools. Both the $660 million Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program and the $472 million Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program were canceled on March 7.
The Trump administration’s Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins told Fox News that the “program was nonessential, that it was a new program, and that it was an effort by the Left to continue spending taxpayer dollars that were not necessary,” reports the Michigan Independent.
The ISBE said the pre-existing Local Food for Schools grant totaling $7.4 million “remains intact” and those funds will be available to use through next year.
The move to cut the food programs for kids is another outrage for Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, who has been vocal in his opposition to the Trump administration.
“Donald Trump and Republicans are taking money out of Illinois farmers’ pockets, giving it to billionaires for tax breaks, and throwing away locally-grown, nutritious food that helps keep our kids fed at school,” Pritzker said in a press release.
