While school letting out might mean no homework for some kids, but it also means no more school meals.

And that can be a dangerous and scary reality for the hundreds of thousands of kids who face hunger and food insecurity without them.

It's an issue that education and child welfare writer Hannah GROSS has been covering.

And I spoke to her earlier today to better understand how proposed federal cuts could make food insecurity here in New Jersey even worse.

Hannah, so great to see you.

You recently wrote about the impact of school letting out on kids who often face insecurity in the summertime.

First, just what are the numbers?

How many kids here in New Jersey are dependent on school meals?

Well, so one in seven children in New Jersey face food insecurity, and that's higher in some parts of the county, like here in Essex, where it's one in five.

About 700,000 kids in New Jersey are receiving summer EBT benefits, which is $120.

Their families can spend on groceries over the summer.

We know that right now the Senate is considering a bill that passed through the House.

We're looking at clawbacks of a lot of funding for some of these programs.

Explain what we face here in New Jersey when it comes to federal cuts on these summer meal programs.

Yeah, New Jersey depends on money from the federal government to make sure kids have access to meals over the summer.

That's operating summer meal sites where kids can go in their community and get breakfast and lunch each day.

It's also the summer EBT cards, and we get money and directly food from the US Department of Agriculture for our food banks.

Congress is considering cuts to SNAP which if that goes through the state, would have to carry a higher burden of the cost.

SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Yes.

So does the state have the ability to take on that burden to cover those costs?

If we see federal cuts.

It would be difficult for the state to make up all of that.

So what now are the options for families who could potentially lose these benefits?

Where do they go?

So they can go to their community food banks and community food pantries.

That's an option.

But they are also struggling right now.

They've seen a drop in food by about 20 to 25% from the US Department of Agriculture.

But they said making sure they have food is a priority.

When there are budget cuts, the food is going to come first.

So that's going to remain an option and they do have power to increase their food.

We saw a lot of this during COVID when families were just left without those support nets.

We saw lines extremely long, families uncertain of whether or not they would get that support.

Do you anticipate that this could look this summer could look something like that time?

It's actually worse than that time.

Food insecurity has been climbing since the pandemic.

So we're in a much worse spot than we were back then.

As for those programs, when we look at federal funding cuts, how many of those programs are depending heavily on federal funding?

How many are depending on private or individual giving?

So summer EBT is funded by the federal government.

Families in New Jersey get about 90 million from the federal government for that.

The school food service program is also funded by the federal government.

Those are meal sites that are primarily in low income communities where anyone can show up.

That's an open site.

They're also closed sites that have limited enrollment.

And then the food banks and food pantries also receive food from the federal government.

So it's a big federal-state partnership.

And then also donations.

A lot remains uncertain.

I know we're going to be following this.

Hannah GROSS, Excellent reporting, as always.

Education and child welfare.

Reporter To see more of Hannah's reporting, you can check out our website, NJSpotlightNews.org.

Hannah, great to talk to you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Joanna.