P-EBT Card & ACP Information
What is the Affordable Connectivity Program?
On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (P.L. 117-58) into law, which established the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). The ACP provides eligible households up to $30 a month, or $75 a month for households living on tribal lands, toward their internet bills, as well as a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet.
All households with a child who was approved to receive free or reduced-price school meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) or the School Breakfast Program (SBP), within the last 12 months, including children who attend schools participating in the Community Eligibility Provision, are eligible for ACP benefits. Households are also eligible if a member of a household participates in certain federal benefit programs—including, among others, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, Medicaid, and Federal Public Housing Assistance.
Households may apply for the ACP via GetInternet.gov or can call 877-384-2575. NSLP and SBP households applying directly through the ACP website may need to show documentation proving their current participation in the NSLP and SBP if their eligibility cannot be confirmed with other personal identifying information. This may include presenting the household’s school meals approval letter or other current official documentation.
- GetInternet.gov—a one-stop shop to learn about ACP, check eligibility, enroll, and find fully covered internet plans.
- White House Fact Sheet on the ACP and its benefits.
* Through a separate non-FCC initiative, additional no cost plans may be available to Affordable Connectivity Program enrollees. To learn more please visit GetInternet.gov. Provision of a link to this initiative does not imply FCC endorsement of any particular participating provider.
Only one monthly service discount and one device discount is allowed per household. To receive the connected device discount, consumers need to enroll in the ACP with a participating provider that offers connected devices (Note: not all internet company offer device discounts.) The internet company will provide the discount to the consumer.
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P-EBT 3.0
SY 2021–22 P-EBT benefits will be provided to school age children that meet all the following requirements:
- Attended a school that participated in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), or Seamless Summer Option (SSO), in SY 2021–22
- Student eligibility:
- Attended a school that participates in Provision 2 or the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), regardless of individual student eligibility
- Missed in-person instruction through excused absences for five school days or more in a month, or attended school virtually through an IS program
Eligible children do not need to apply for SY 2021–22 P-EBT to receive P-EBT benefits. The CDE will use eligibility data and end of year absence data already maintained in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) to identify eligible children. The CDE will collect attendance and IS data in September using a separate collection tool. More detailed information on data needs have been communicated both to student information system vendors and local educational agency (LEA) CALPADS Administrators.
The amount of benefit each student will receive is based on the daily rate of $7.10 multiplied by the number of days of IS attendance or excused absences of five or more days in a month, as reported by the LEA in CALPADS and by the data collection tool. The CDE will provide the necessary data to the CDSS in October.
Distribution of P-EBT cards to school age children will occur in November through December 2022. Cards mailed during this timeframe will have SY 2021–22 P-EBT benefits for the months of August 2021 through December 2021. Cards will be automatically reloaded with a second issuance of benefits in late November and December 2022 with P-EBT benefits for the months of January 2022 through May 2022.
P-EBT cards will be mailed to the mailing address in CALPADS on October 1, 2022.
Summer 2022 Benefits and Timeline
Summer 2022 P-EBT will be provided to school age children that meet all the following requirements:
- Enrolled for at least one day in May 2022.
- Student eligibility:
- Attended a school that participates in Provision 2 or CEP, regardless of individual student eligibility
In addition, students not enrolled as of May 2022 (such as new transfer students) may be eligible for Summer 2022 P-EBT. Students newly eligible with a CALPADS eligibility start date on or before August 15, 2022, will receive Summer 2022 P-EBT.
The Summer 2022 P-EBT is for the period from June through August 2022, and has a set benefit amount of $391. Students that qualify will be mailed cards in November and December 2022, or benefits will be loaded on to existing cards for students that qualified for SY 2021–22 P-EBT.
Note: There are several situations in which students many not qualify for Summer 2022 P-EBT, which include the following:
- Exited school or graduated prior to May 1, 2022
- Transferred out of state
- Transferred to a school not participating in NSLP, SBP, or SSO before May 1, 2022
- Enrolled as a new kindergarten student in SY 2022–23 (kindergarten students may still qualify for Summer P-EBT if they received CalFresh during the Summer under the California P-EBT childcare-aged plan)
- Not eligible in May 2022, and addends a school site with new participation in CEP or Provision in SY 2022–23 that did not participate in CEP or Provision in SY 2021–22