Why are the streets in Indianapolis so horrible? Why is school funding seemingly always distributed unfairly? Eventually, the answers to those questions lead to the faceless phantom, known as bureaucracy. However, sometimes that phantom is identified, making accountability possible for whatever ails us. That’s when we point at an actual person, the sinister “bureaucrat.”

On May 7th, Whitney Downard reported for Indiana Capital Chronicle, “’A giant leap backwards’: Indiana opts out of summer program for hungry schoolchildren.” She reported that in 2024, Hoosier families who qualify for food benefits and reduced-price school meals got a summertime boost: $120 per child monthly for food while schools were closed. It provided that assistance to 669,000 children.

What made it news earlier this month is that Indiana’s participation last year, won’t be repeated this year. The reason? You guessed it, bureaucracy. Downard asked “three state entities” about the withdrawal from the SUN Bucks program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including the important question: why? At that time, no reasoning was provided.

I was hopeful more reporting would follow, and on May 16th, it did.

Rachel Fradette reported for WFYI that in a statement from Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration, that “clear direction” was needed from state leadership last year for the program to be rolled out in a timely manner. “Upon taking office, this administration quickly submitted a waiver application to the Food and Nutrition Service to explore all possible avenues for launching the program this summer…However, our review revealed that the gaps in prior preparations prevented implementation in time for Summer 2025.”

That’s the classic blaming of bureaucracy. But there’s a face here, and that face is Gov. Mike Braun. Could this Trump loyalist have made a phone call to the White House? Yes. Did he?

As Downard reported, Indiana notified the USDA by letter on February 20, 2025 that it wouldn’t be participating in the program this year.  It’s a sad document in several ways. First, it implies that all of the systems needed to participate continued to be in place. Specifically, the people who administered the program last year are still employed. Second, it appears that as of the date of the letter, the state could have received a waiver for its missed deadlines and still participated this year.

The letter was signed by an actual bureaucrat, David Smalley, Deputy Director of Policy for FSSA’s Division of Family Resources. He wrote, “The delay in Indiana’s implementation will make it challenging to meet program deadlines.” Again, this was on February 20th.

For context, and as a former bureaucrat myself, that “challenge” should have been met with an all-hands-on-deck response that removed any doubt that Indiana wanted to participate. It should have featured an around the clock effort to make sure that money and the food it was appropriated to buy made it to Indiana. Instead, this fumble wasn’t known to the general public until almost three months later, after what was once a “challenge” had become an abdication.

It reminds me of Indiana withdrawing from participation in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program earlier this year. I wrote about that in February, and I’m sensing a theme developing with Team Braun.

In 2024, 14 states didn’t participate in the SUN Bucks program. All of them are politically red. In 2025, Missouri and Alabama have been added as new participants, while Indiana has chosen to become the only former one.

The simple math is astonishing. Six hundred and sixty-nine thousand Hoosier children received the $120 monthly benefit last summer. Even if it was for only one month, that is a little over $80 million worth of food.

What happens in any organization where missing deadlines, and refusing to make up for those deficiencies when an opportunity to do so exists, results in an $80 million loss? Heads roll, that’s what.

In this case, children will go hungry. No heads will roll. And “why” is still a question that has not been adequately answered.

A reporter once referred to me as a “good bureaucrat” to a colleague. That colleague immediately let me know about the remark, assuming I would be unhappy about the apparent insult. It wasn’t one. It was a compliment. Yes, it is awkward, given the way we negatively use the term. But a good bureaucrat would have found a solution to the SUN Bucks challenge, and Indiana would have been a better place because of that service.

Blaming the prior administration won’t put food on the table this summer. This is at least the second time that Team Braun would rather point fingers than serve.