Summer EBT 2024 Plan of Operations and Timeline

The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and the California Department of Education's S-EBT 2024 Plan of Operations and Management (POM) has officially been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). This approved plan outlines California’s strategies for ensuring an estimated 5.2 million children across our state will receive critical food benefits this summer.

Eligibility for 2024 S-EBT benefits will automatically be determined by the CDSS using data from the California Statewide Automated Welfare System (CalSAWs) and free and reduced-price meal (FRPM) eligibility records in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). Children determined eligible for S-EBT benefits through CALPADS must be directly certified, or FRPM eligible through a National School Lunch Program meal application or alternative income form. For summer 2024, no separate S-EBT application is required. S-EBT benefits will continue to be administered through August 31, 2024, so school food authorities (SFAs) are encouraged to continue making eligibility determinations and routinely updating CALPADS through this date.

The tentative benefit issuance timeline is as follows:

• Phase 1 — Public school students determined eligible through CALPADS or public assistance programs on or before March 29, 2024, and private school children determined eligible as of April 16, 2024. Households will begin receiving benefits mid-June through August 31, 2024.
  
  
• Phase 2 — Students newly identified as eligible from March 30, 2024, through August 31, 2024. Households will receive benefits September through November 2024.

For additional information on S-EBT please visit the CDSS Sun BUCKS web page .

Additionally, the CDSS recorded two S-EBT webinars which may be viewed at the links below:

• Pandemic EBT Outcomes and Summer EBT (SUN Bucks) Introduction webinar (Video, 1:02:49).
  
  
• SUN Bucks – A New Summer EBT Program Coming in 2024 webinar (Video, 1:03:25).
  

Contact Information

For household questions, families can contact the CDSS Customer Service center at 1-877-328-9677.

For SFA questions, please reach out to SummerEBT@cde.ca.gov. This email address is not for household inquiries about S-EBT.

For questions about the SUN Bucks web page, please reach out toSUNBucks@cdss.ca.gov. This email address is not for household inquiries about S-EBT.