SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Many Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) families received a letter from the district explaining that the USDA has required all vendors providing food for the "Farmers to Families program" include a letter from President Trump in each box.
Vendors are required to include the letter or risk losing funding.
Christina Jones has a daughter who attends a school within in the district and says the letter from the president comes off as a campaign stunt
“Like religion, I don’t think it should be in the school,” Jones said.
In a letter to parents, the school district said it is unusual for the distribution of such a letter to be required close to an election and they want to be clear that should families receive a letter in the food box, it's not an endorsement of any political candidate by the district.
ABC 10 reached out to the USDA regarding the mandatory letter. A spokesperson responded with the following statement:
“Politics has played zero role in the Farmers to Families food box program – it is purely about helping farmers and distributors get food to Americans in need during this unprecedented time. The letter from President Trump has been included for several months now and contains health information that is critical to slowing the spread of COVID-19.”
“The hatch act is an anti-corruption act. The idea is that we don’t want elected officials to use public resources, the powers of their office, or the time of their employees or physical spaces in service of their election,” said Kim Nalder, director of the Project for Informed Electorate at Sacramento State.
Nalder said although some may find it distasteful, the Hatch Act does not apply to the President or the Vice President so Trump’s note isn’t going against any laws.
"Inserting a letter notifying citizens that this is because of your President is certainly distasteful and violates the spirit of the Hatch Act because it is clearly so close to the election, people have their ballots already," Nalder said.
Nalder said the American people have seen this before in 2008 when President George W. Bush sent out stimulus checks to people.
SCUSD said the district will remove the letter from the president from the food boxes moving forward.
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