Credit: Inside the MagicFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis funded Walt Disney World Resort this summer but refused federal funds that would’ve fed hungry children. Advocates say the policy had untold harm and are concerned he will extend it.
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After ending his presidential bid against former President Donald Trump and Nikki Haley, DeSantis largely stayed quiet about The Walt Disney Company. The pair’s heated battle ended in January when a federal judge dismissed the Mouse’s lawsuit against Governor DeSantis.
Disney claimed DeSantis violated its First Amendment right to free speech by dissolving Walt Disney World Resort’s Reedy Creek Improvement District. The Republican governor replaced its oversight board with his own crew and renamed the area the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
This occurred just weeks after former Disney CEO Bob Chapek publicly criticized the Parental Rights in Education Act, known as the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
Since effectively winning the lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company, DeSantis has actually begun taking political actions that support the Mouse. He diverted tax dollars to revitalize roadways and other infrastructure, including near Walt Disney World Resort.
The most significant change came in June when Governor DeSantis signed a $116.5 billion state budget into law. He allocated $17 billion to expanding theme parks and other tourist destinations in Florida, including the Walt Disney parks.
Months earlier, DeSantis refused $250 million in federal aid for “Sun Bucks,” a program that feeds hungry children during public school summer vacation. The program would allocate low-income families $120 in EBT per child during June, July, and August.
According to The Guardian, more than 2.1 million Floridian children receive free or reduced public school lunch. All would’ve been eligible for the summer debit card program, which DeSantis claimed was unnecessary.
“We anticipate that our state’s full approach to serving children will continue to be successful this year without any additional federal programs that inherently always come with some federal strings attached,” Mallory McManus, deputy chief of staff of the Florida Department of Children and Families, said when DeSantis declined to accept the federal funds.
The 2025 program deadline is in less than two weeks, and advocates worry that DeSantis will again refuse to help families feed their children.
“It’s atrocious that the governor would even think about not accepting any type of help,” Alix Desulme, mayor of North Miami and founder of the NoMi food pantry, told The Guardian. “Since the pandemic, we’ve seen the population we serve increase over 300%, 22% of children in Florida are living in food insecurity, and people cannot afford to eat. The fact the governor embraced that, it’s very shameful.”
According to Feeding America, one in five children in Florida faces hunger. DeSantis’s team said community organizations and free public school summer lunch programs removed the need for Sun Bucks.
Activists argue that these programs should supplement EBT instead of replacing it.
“One of the statements we continue to hear is that Florida already offers summer meal programs and therefore we’re good, we don’t really need a program such as Sun Bucks. I surely wish that were true,” Sky Beard, Florida program director of No Kid Hungry, told The Guardian.
“The work we and other partners do demonstrates that’s an inaccurate perception. Less than 10% of children who participate in free and reduced lunch during the school year are also able to get a summer meal.”
“Federal child nutrition programs are meant to work in conjunction with others, not one over the other, to meet the needs of a whole state,” they continued.
“There are fantastic programs and communities doing the best they can, but it’s unrealistic to think all families can stop their work day, visit a site, have their child consume that meal on site and then go back to work. And in some communities it’s unsafe for children to walk to a meal site on their own, it’s too far and too hot.”
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