NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The 2024 Kansas KIDS COUNT® Data Book has been released. The publication analyzes child outcomes in economic well-being, education, and health indicators.
"We track dozens of indicators about the well-being of children and families in Kansas, and food insecurity is the one indicator that showed the most significant movement," said John Wilson with Kansas Action for Children. "We now are looking at data that shows us that every single Kansas county experienced an increase in food insecurity among kids. We went from roughly one in eight kids experiencing food insecurity to one in five, and this is a pretty drastic increase from 2021 to 2022."
Some of the reductions in federal programs post pandemic may have contributed to the issue.
"During that time, we saw cost-free school meals for every child," Wilson said. "We saw an expanded federal child tax credit that provided monthly payments as opposed to that credit at tax time, and we saw enhanced food assistance benefits during that time, so enhancements to the SNAP program, so those were all federal investments that were made to support the basic needs of people in the United States, so those ended at the same time that the data is showing that sharp increase in food insecurity, and then, of course, yes, the increased cost of groceries due to inflation played a part to that."
One policy piece that the current Kansas administration has been able to keep alive up through this past summer is Summer EBT.
"I appreciate the work that the governor's administration has done to keep those programs going, because we also saw last summer plenty of states that restricted the summer EBT program, and so we're really paying attention to this upcoming legislative session. It's the beginning of a new biennium, and we need to see what direction lawmakers want to take these traditional safety net programs like SNAP food assistance and child care assistance and cash assistance, all those programs that really are small ways to help families meet their basic needs."
It remains to be seen what the new legislative makeup will portend with regard to the extension or change of assistance programs for kids.