Faith Owen twists up bags of school lunches on Sept. 29, 2020, in the kitchen at Thomas J. McMahon Elementary School in Lewiston. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

Federal funding for Maine’s school nutrition staff has been frozen under a wider pause to education programs in the state that was announced Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Anna Korsen, the director of Full Plates Full Potential, a nonprofit that supports child nutrition programs in Maine, called the move “cruel,” noting that even if the USDA didn’t restrict funding for school meals themselves, it will make it impossible for them to keep working.

The freeze was the latest jab at Maine education from the Trump administration since a dispute between Trump and Gov. Janet Mills over the state’s transgender athlete policies erupted in February.

In the letter, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said the federal funding freeze would impact “administrative and technological functions in schools” but would not touch student nutrition or direct assistance for Mainers.

The DOE had said it would not impact federal feeding programs, but Maine is now unable to access funds for the staff who operate those programs.

A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Education later said the agency received about $92.7 million from the USDA in fiscal year 2024. Of that, $86.6 million represents direct reimbursements for school meals.

“The Maine DOE can confirm that, at this time, funding to cover the cost of food itself for school nutrition programs remains accessible,” Chloe Teboe, a spokesperson for the Maine department, said Friday afternoon. “Not presently accessible to the Maine DOE, however, is USDA funding that supports Maine DOE administrative staff who operate school nutrition programs, as well as funding for certain other grant programs that take place outside of schools.”

She said the state has not received any further communication from the USDA since Wednesday’s letter. Teboe did not provide details about what those other grant programs might be. She said the department is “continuing to assess impacts and evaluate options in light of these actions.”

Full Plates Full Potential works closely with its administrative staff and Korsen said that her organization received notice of the freeze from the state’s DOE, which said it will pay for some of those staff temporarily.

“These people are absolutely critical partners in the work to see kids in Maine, and freezing this funding — while technically it wasn’t the funding that goes directly to feed the kids — it will make it impossible to continue to see kids if the funding isn’t reinstated,” Korsen said.

She said the money spent on the state’s child nutrition team is such a small fraction of the USDA’s budget, but a significant cost to the state government.

“This move by USDA was really cruel,” Korsen said. “They are going to be keeping food from kids.”