We've been trying for decades."įederal lawmakers will likely hear from constituents upset that kids' access to school meals has been curtailed at a time when so many families continue to struggle with food insecurity, and high food and fuel prices, says Diane Pratt-Heavner, director of media relations at the School Nutrition Association.īut she says that passing universal meals legislation, of the sort that Sen. "So how do you change that? We don't know. "Right now, there is just not the desire to do universal school meals at a national level from one side of the aisle," she says. No matter how much support universal school meals have at the state level, Republican opposition in Congress is formidable, she says. That would sell kids short, Wilson says, noting that children's access to healthy food should not depend on their zip codes. While state initiatives could help popularize the idea of universal meals, they could also give federal lawmakers cover to argue that the question of whether to make meals universally free is best left to state legislatures, she says. "We are excited to see what's happening in the states, and in most cases, it is a bipartisan effort and there are a lot of partners at the table."īut whether action at the state level will translate into more support for federal universal school meals legislation is unclear, says Katie Wilson, the executive director of the Urban School Food Alliance. Universal meals legislation has been introduced in a number of other states, including Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, Maryland and North Carolina.Ī state-by-state approach isn't ideal, says Clarissa Hayes, deputy director of school and out-of-school time programs at the Food Research & Action Center, but it's still an important step - one that never would have happened if the pandemic hadn't hit. Connecticut has also funded free meals for part of this year, and Colorado voters will decide in November whether to make school meals free to all. This year, California, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts and Nevada will offer free meals to all public school students, regardless of their family's income. States move to free school meals for all kids Instead, they're trying to keep the momentum going by backing state-level efforts that could eventually lay the groundwork for federal action. While advocates say Republican opposition to expanding school feeding programs is daunting, they haven't given up on the idea of making school meals free for all. Those arguing for universal free meals say that it would put an end to that stigma and to administrative hurdles that can prevent parents from signing their kids up. ![]() ![]() This fall, schools are once again charging for lunch and breakfast, and people who run school food programs are back to the familiar scramble to get students signed up for free and reduced-price meals - and to the familiar worry that some kids will feel stigmatized for getting free meals, end up in lunch debt or go hungry. ![]() That didn't turn out to be the case this spring, Republicans blocked an extension of the waivers that allowed schools to serve free meals to all, which made the prospect of legislation establishing universal school meals remote. Once free meals were in place, albeit temporarily, many advocates thought that they would at least remain that way for the rest of the pandemic-if not longer. It also inadvertently turned out to be a pilot project for something anti-hunger groups had been pushing for years: making school food free, permanently, for all public school students, regardless of income. When the government made school meals temporarily free to virtually all public school students in 2020, the intent was to buffer children and families from the spike in hunger and economic hardship caused by the pandemic.
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