BATON ROUGE - Governor Edwards announced Friday that more than 600,000 students will be eligible to receive benefits to pay for meals while schools remain closed. 

Under the new Pandemic EBT program, families of students who normally receive free or lower-priced meals at school are eligible to receive assistance. 

The benefits are intended to cover 50 school days from statewide school closures through the end of the 2019-20 academic year. The benefit amounts to $5.70 per day per child or $285 for the 50 days.

The program applies to all Louisiana public schools and many non-public facilities affected by the pandemic. The benefits will be accessible to households with Pre-K through 12th-grade students affected by closures.

You can learn more about the program here.