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free school meals
Public Education Is Free to All Students. Now Do Their Lunch
It's outrageous that we ensure taxpayer-funded public classrooms and teacher salaries as well as roads, parks, libraries, firefighters, paramedics, and more, but draw the line at something for our kids to eat in the middle of the day.
Oct 29, 2023
During the pandemic, the government embarked on a beautiful experiment: expanding public programs to stave off poverty. One critical component was ensuring that public school students had free lunches regardless of family income.
During the 2020-2021 school year, 98 percent of all school lunches were free to students. All of a sudden, public schools were allowed to treat the idea of feeding students to be as essential as educating them.
These pandemic-era programs — which also included a monthly Child Tax Credit, a pause in student loan repayments, and expansions of SNAP and Medicaid — not only kept people from falling into deep poverty but actually led to a record reduction in poverty levels.
But as those programs expire, poverty is rising again. And with an end to federally funded free school lunches, kids living in the world’s richest nation will go hungry again.
Republicans say they would cut federal funding for school lunches altogether, declaring it a priority for 2024. In this dystopian worldview, kids don’t have an unconditional right to food.
When the temporary free lunch program that fed 50 million students ended in June 2022, participation in school meal programs plummeted and income-based qualifications for free meals resumed. Public school meal debt has ballooned to $262 million per year, with an estimated 30.4 million students unable to pay for their meals.
Shameful stories abound.
For example, Donovan Elementary School in Lebanon, Ohio, announced “Ice Cream Friday,” a fun activity that expressly excluded students with debt. “If a student has a negative balance they will not be able to purchase an ice cream even if they bring their $1,” the school said. “Students are only allowed to purchase [one] ice cream and are not permitted to buy an ice cream for a friend.”
“Just give the kids ice cream!!!” one person replied to the school on Facebook. “The part that kids can’t buy ice cream for their friends is disgusting.”
At a district in Philadelphia, sixth through 12th graders in debt will no longer be fed at school. Among the impacted parents is a single mother of three who cannot pay off her kids’ $400 lunch debt. In North Carolina, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District has nearly $500,000 in unpaid school lunch debts.
Even in school districts where meals are free for low-income families, there is a deep stigma when kids are singled out. There are horror stories of “lunch shaming,” such as kids forgoing meals in order to not be outed as too poor to pay out-of-pocket.
Additionally, according to one analysis, many kids “are part of families who earn too much to be considered for free or reduced lunch, but also earn too little to afford regular school meals.”
This is outrageous. We ensure taxpayer-funded public classrooms and teacher salaries as well as roads, parks, libraries, firefighters, paramedics, and more. None of these have income or work-based requirements. They’re free at the point of use for everyone.
But we draw the line at school lunches?
Republicans say they would cut federal funding for school lunches altogether, declaring it a priority for 2024. In this dystopian worldview, kids don’t have an unconditional right to food. But some Democratic-run states actually learned from the federal government’s pandemic experiment.
California’s Department of Education this year boasted about being “the first state to implement a statewide Universal Meals Program for school children.” Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Vermont have implemented similar programs.
“‘School lunch debt’ is a term so absurd that it shouldn’t even exist,” declared Senator John Fetterman (D-PA). Fetterman’s federal School Lunch Debt Cancelation Act would direct the Department of Agriculture to pay off all school meal debts.
But it isn’t enough to pay off the debt once. Modeled on California’s approach, Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) Universal School Meals Program Act would permanently offer free meals for all kids with no income restriction.
I asked my 16-year-old son, who attends a public school in California, how he would respond if kids at his school were required to pay for meals. “That would be pretty dumb,” he said. He’s right. It’s that simple.
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'Just Feed Our Children': Minnesota Gov. Offers Unequivocal Defense of Universal Free School Meals
"The haves and the have-nots in the school lunchroom is not a necessary thing," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Aug 17, 2023
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Wednesday offered an unwavering defense of his state's recently enacted universal free school meals program, arguing that Republican efforts to means-test the initiative would have created burdensome and needless administrative barriers.
"The haves and the have-nots in the school lunchroom is not a necessary thing. Just feed our children," Walz, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, said during a press conference.
Minnesota's free school meals program, which took effect on July 1, provides breakfast and lunch for free to K-12 students whose schools participate in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.
The meals are provided regardless of a student's family income. One anti-hunger campaigner described the program as "a lunchbox tax cut—it gives money back to families."
Local advocates
estimate that roughly 17% of Minnesota children are food-insecure, and many did not previously qualify for means-tested school meal assistance.
Republicanslargely opposed the creation of the free lunch and breakfast program, which grew out of a federally funded school meals initiative launched during the coronavirus pandemic.
Some Minnesota Republicans pushed for income-based restrictions on eligibility for free school meals,
claiming that it "doesn't make sense" to provide no-cost meals to students whose families can afford to pay.
But Walz rejected that argument during Wednesday's press conference.
"Isn't that rich. Our Republican colleagues were concerned there would be a tax cut for the wealthiest," said Walz. "The fact of the matter is that the programs of getting food to our children as easily as possible has always been a priority."
"We know there's a lot of families—it's hard, they send you tons of paperwork, you're struggling, you're doing work, you're doing all that," Walz added, referring to the income verification process and other hoops families previously had to jump through to qualify their children for free school meals. "This was meant to make it as easy as possible knowing that it's a benefit for all of them."
Minnesota is one of
several states that have moved to enact their own free school meal programs following the lapse of emergency federal funding.
Late last month, Massachusetts lawmakers approved a budget that requires public schools to provide all K-12 students with free meals—a program funded by revenue from the state's tax on millionaires.
"Free universal school meals are now the law of the land in Massachusetts," U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) wrote Wednesday. "Congress must follow suit and pass the Universal School Meals Program Act to make this a reality for every child in America."
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'Will Literally Change Lives': Massachusetts Legislature Approves Universal Free School Meals
"Congress must follow suit and make this a reality for every child who calls America home," said U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley.
Aug 01, 2023
The Massachusetts Legislature on Monday approved a budget proposal that requires the state's public schools to provide all K-12 students with free meals, making permanent a highly successful pandemic-era program.
Maura Healey, the state's Democratic governor, is expected to sign the budget into law, which would make Massachusetts the eighth U.S. state to make universal free school meals permanent—joining California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, and Michigan.
"We would not be where we are today without the voices and activism of thousands of advocates and organizations, who made it clear that feeding our kids must be a statewide priority," Erin McAleer, president and CEO of the Massachusetts anti-hunger group Project Bread, said in a statement Monday. "We are grateful to all of our partners across the state and in the Legislature who enabled this victory."
Early in the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government approved waivers that allowed public schools across the U.S. to provide free school meals to all students. After federal funding expired last year amid GOP opposition, several states moved to establish free school meal programs financed by state dollars.
The proposed Massachusetts budget includes $171.5 million for the state's universal free school meal initiative.
School superintendents from across Massachusetts wrote in a June letter that they view universal free meals as "a needed part of education, not simply a nice add-on." Free school meals have been linked to a number of positive outcomes, including a decline in child hunger and better academic performance.
"Last year, the Legislature made the wise investment to extend school meals through the current school year in the FY2023 budget," the superintendents wrote. "Because of this extension, an additional 80,000 students ate lunch in October 2022 compared to October 2019 in schools not previously serving universal free meals."
"The promise of this country ought to be that no child ever goes hungry in any school."
U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), one of the most outspoken anti-hunger advocates in Congress, applauded the Massachusetts Legislature for making free school meals permanent and said the move "will literally change lives, full stop."
"No child in Massachusetts will ever have to wonder how to get through the school day on an empty stomach," said McGovern. "The promise of this country ought to be that no child ever goes hungry in any school."
U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) echoed McGovern, saying in a statement that "Congress must follow suit and make this a reality for every child who calls America home."
"In one of the richest nations in the world, no child should ever go hungry, and including universal meals in schools is a step in the right direction towards addressing America's hunger crisis," Pressley said. "I'm grateful for the Massachusetts Legislature and to the advocates and organizers who fought relentlessly to make this possible."
In May, Pressley and McGovern joined other progressive lawmakers in introducing the Universal School Meals Program Act of 2023, a measure that would offer free breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack to all students in preschool through high school.
The bill has yet to receive a vote in the House or the Senate.
A large group of House Republicans, meanwhile, has openly declared its opposition to free school meals.
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North Dakota GOP Approves Near-Total Abortion Ban After Rejecting Free School Lunches
"Mandating birth is state responsibility. Helping feed those kids is not," is how Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom summarized the Republican position.
Apr 25, 2023
Republican Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota on Monday signed one of the nation's most draconian abortion bans into law, just weeks after the state's GOP lawmakers shot down a proposal to provide free school lunches to low-income students.
The new forced pregnancy law, which takes immediate effect, prohibits abortion care in nearly all cases. Abortion is allowed in cases of rape or incest, but only during the first six weeks of pregnancy—before many people realize they are pregnant. Abortion is also allowed without gestational limits if terminating a pregnancy could prevent the pregnant person's "death or a serious health risk."
North Dakota is one of several states where dormant abortion bans took immediate effect last June when the U.S. Supreme Court's reactionary majority overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that had legalized the healthcare procedure nationwide.
However, "North Dakota's trigger ban was blocked last year by a district judge, after its sole abortion provider, the Red River Women's Clinic, filed a lawsuit against the law," The New York Times reported Monday. "The state Supreme Court upheld the lower court's ruling last month and said the state constitution protected abortion rights in some situations."
Burgum, a former vice president at Microsoft, said in a statement that North Dakota's new forced pregnancy law "clarifies and refines" the existing abortion ban that has been blocked by courts.
As the Times noted:
Under the earlier ban, providers who performed an abortion to save the life of a mother could face felony prosecution. The provider would need to offer an "affirmative defense" proving that the abortion was medically necessary within the confines of the state law.
Under the new version of the law, the exceptions do not require an affirmative defense from providers. But providers could still face criminal charges if they violate the exceptions detailed in the law.
Elisabeth Smith, director of state policy and advocacy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, accused North Dakota lawmakers of "attempting to bypass the state constitution and court system with this total ban."
"They made the exceptions a little bit less narrow but essentially tried to repackage the trigger ban," she told the Times.
North Dakota has been completely bereft of abortion clinics since August, when the Fargo-based Red River Women's Clinic moved its operations a short distance across the border to Moorhead, Minnesota. But as the Times reported, Center for Reproductive Rights attorneys representing the clinic "say it is important to ensure that the ban does not take effect, so that patients facing medical emergencies can receive abortions in hospitals and from their doctors."
As the lawsuit opposing North Dakota's currently enjoined abortion ban proceeds, fresh legal challenges to the state's new forced pregnancy law are expected.
"I don't think women in North Dakota are going to accept this, and there will be action in the future to get our rights back," state Rep. Liz Conmy (D-11) told The Associated Press. "Our Legislature is overwhelmingly pro-pregnancy, but I think women in the state would like to make their own decisions."
Burgum, who also signed a bill prohibiting gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth last week, argued that the new abortion ban "reaffirms North Dakota as a pro-life state."
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, contrasted North Dakota Republicans' willingness to enact a forced pregnancy law with their refusal last month to expand access to free school lunches.
Condemning GOP lawmakers and officials, Newsom summarized their position as follows: "Mandating birth is state responsibility. Helping feed those kids is not."
Just 10 days after North Dakota Republicans rejected a bill that would have broadened eligibility for free school lunches, they voted in early April to increase their own daily meal reimbursements from $35 to $45, adding insult to injury.
"I'm beyond enraged at these cruel backward MAGA extremist politicians," tweeted human rights lawyer Qasim Rashid. "A special place in hell."
In sharp contrast to their counterparts in Bismarck, North Dakota, lawmakers in St. Paul recently made Minnesota the fourth state to guarantee universal free school meals.
Meanwhile, a first-of-its-kind lawsuit filed last month by five Texas women whose lives were endangered by that state's near-total abortion ban underscores the spurious nature of so-called "abortion exceptions," as Common Dreams reported.
With its new law, North Dakota became at least the 14th state with an active ban on nearly all abortions. Additional states have slightly less restrictive prohibitions in place.
The U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 opinion last summer in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ended the constitutional right to abortion and turned regulation of the procedure over to individual states, leaving tens of millions of people without access to lifesaving reproductive healthcare.
The ruling's elimination of federal protections has enabled right-wing lawmakers to prohibit or restrict abortion in more than half of the states, unleashing a life-threatening crisis that human rights advocates consider a violation of U.S. obligations under international law.
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'Beautiful': Minnesota Becomes 4th State to Provide Free School Meals to All Kids
"Let this serve as a reminder that poverty is a policy choice," said one advocate. "In the richest country in the world, it is absolutely inexcusable that millions of our children go to school hungry because they are living in poverty."
Mar 18, 2023
Surrounded by students, teachers, and advocates, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday afternoon signed into law a bill to provide breakfast and lunch at no cost to all of the state's roughly 820,000 K-12 pupils regardless of their household income.
The move to make Minnesota the fourth U.S. state to guarantee universal free school meals—joining California, Maine, and Colorado—elicited praise from progressives.
"Beautiful," tweeted Stephanie Kelton, a professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University.
"No child should go hungry for any reason, period."
UC-Berkeley professor and former U.S. labor secretary Robert Reich wrote on social media: "Let this serve as a reminder that poverty is a policy choice. In the richest country in the world, it is absolutely inexcusable that millions of our children go to school hungry because they are living in poverty."
An estimated 1 in 6 children in Minnesota don't get enough to eat on a regular basis. But 1 in 4 food-insecure kids live in households that don't qualify for the federal free and reduced meal program, leading to "mounting school lunch debts in the tens of thousands of dollars," Minnesota Public Radio reported.
Tens of thousands of children are set to benefit from Minnesota's new law, which could be operational as early as summer school in July. Some of them were there to thank Walz at the signing ceremony, where the sense of elation was palpable.
"As a former teacher, I know that providing free breakfast and lunch for our students is one of the best investments we can make to lower costs, support Minnesota's working families, and care for our young learners and the future of our state," Walz said. "This bill puts us one step closer to making Minnesota the best state for kids to grow up, and I am grateful to all of the legislators and advocates for making it happen."
The Minnesota House—led by the Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, the state's Democratic affiliate—first passed the bill in February in a 70-58 party-line vote. The state Senate—where the DFL holds just a single-seat advantage—approved it on Tuesday by a 38-26 margin. The state House rubber-stamped an amended version of the bill on Thursday.
In a now-viral clip from the state Senate's debate over the bill earlier this week. Sen. Steve Drazkowski (R-20) questioned whether hunger is really a problem in Minnesota—even as the state's food banks reported a record surge in visits last year, months before federal lawmakers slashed pandemic-era Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
"I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that is hungry," Drazkowski said before voting against the bill. "I have yet to meet a person in Minnesota that says they don't have access to enough food to eat."
During Friday's signing ceremony, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (DFL) said, "To our decision-makers who believe they have never met someone who is experiencing or has experienced hunger: Hi, my name is Peggy Flanagan, and I was 1 in 6 of those Minnesota children who experienced hunger."
"By providing free breakfast and lunch to all of our students, we are removing barriers and removing stigma from the lunch room," said Flanagan. "We are helping family pocketbooks, especially for those 1 in 4 who don't qualify for financial assistance with school meals. We are leading with our values that no child should go hungry for any reason, period."
"This is an investment in the well-being of our children, as well as an investment in their academic success," Flanagan added, calling the "generation-changing" bill "the most important thing" she's ever worked on in her life.
"By providing free breakfast and lunch to all of our students, we are removing barriers and removing stigma from the lunch room... This is an investment in the well-being of our children, as well as an investment in their academic success."
As Minnesota Reformer reported: "The majority of Minnesota schools receive federal funding from the National School Lunch Program, which reimburses schools for each meal served, though it doesn't cover the cost of the entire meal. Under the new law, schools are prohibited from charging students for the remaining cost, and the state will foot the rest of the bill—about $200 million annually."
MPR noted that "the legislation is similar to a program that was introduced during the pandemic to provide meals for all students, but was discontinued at the end of last year."
Last month, The Star Tribune editorial board opined that providing free breakfast and lunch to all of Minnesota's students, including affluent ones, is "excessive."
Pushing back against this argument for means-testing, Darcy Stueber—director of Nutrition Services for Mankato Area Public Schools and public policy chair of the Minnesota School Nutrition Association—asserted that meals should be guaranteed to all kids at no cost, just like other basic learning necessities.
"We don't charge for Chromebooks and desks and things like that," she told MPR. "It's a part of their day and they're there for so many hours. It just completes that whole learning experience for the child."
Minnesota Rep. Sydney Jordan (DFL-60A), the bill's lead author, made the same point to counter GOP lawmakers' complaints following the initial passage of the legislation.
"We give every kid in our school a desk," Jordan said last month. "There are lots of kids out there that can afford to buy a desk, but they get a desk because they go to school."
Walz, for his part, stressed Friday that his administration is "just getting started" when it comes to boosting education funding.
"The big stuff," said the governor, "is still coming."
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