BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – With federal SNAP benefits set to pause starting Saturday for an estimated 750,000 Alabamians – including about 350,000 children – school leaders are watching closely. Educators and child nutrition officials say the loss of food assistance could show up in classrooms as more students arrive hungry and less able to focus.
The SNAP freeze is the latest federal issue to affect local schools and is the result of the now month-long federal shutdown. District leaders say hunger doesn’t stop at the schoolhouse door and worry that the economic setback, should the shutdown continue, could slow Alabama’s hard-won academic progress.
“It’s very, very concerning,” said Caycyce Davis, president of the Alabama School Nutrition Association and Child Nutrition Program director for Elmore County Schools. “You can’t teach a hungry child.”…