It’s almost 2024, and yet, we are STILL dealing with childhood hunger in America. According to Feed America, “…1 in 5 children across America don’t have enough to eat”. Feeding America states that black and Latino children are more likely to experience food insecurity, as well as those in single parent households. There are a myriad of root causes behind this issue, too many system failures to even begin to address here, but there is one policy change that would make a huge difference:
Make school lunches free for all students nationwide.
Of course, this would just be one in a series of policy changes to support children having enough to eat, but it is a strong start. Schools providing free lunch for all would guarantee kids have access to at least one meal per day, and if we add free breakfast to the deal that would give two full meals. Many schools do provide some type of food shelf to send food home with low-income students for the weekend as well. Additionally, many school districts offer free food assistance for students during the Summer months, this website lists resources available in Minnesota. However, let us assume that the additional food gaps would be met nationwide through other policies and focus on school lunch.
According to Prism, child food insecurity decreased 7% between 2020 and 2021, which was during the time congress allowed all school lunches to be free as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. However, the waivers are ending along with the Pandemic, which reveal the $19 million in school lunch debt that had been temporarily relieved. A negative lunch balance is a source of shame in many schools, where students with lunch debt will be given an alternative, smaller meal, and/or their hands will be stamped to ensure none of the cafeteria staff serve them the regular lunch. I myself remember the condescending sighs from the lunch lady at the register when she would tell me “You need lunch money”, in a snide tone. As if my parents’ financial situation was my fault and I had failed morally.
Fortunately, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison ruled in 2021 that “Minnesota law is clear: students whose families are struggling to afford their lives cannot be denied a regular school lunch or offered a substandard alternate meal in place of a regular lunch”, but what about the rest of the country? Childhood hunger should not be a states’ rights issue, it should be wiped out across the board on the federal level.
“But my taxes!“
Some folks would argue that we do not have enough money as a country to pay for every child’s school lunch, that students should make a lunch at home if they cannot afford to buy it at school. I don’t know about you, but I would rather my tax dollars go toward making sure kids get fed than the increasingly bloated defense budget or tax cuts for millionaires. I can guarantee you that if politicians cared enough, they would find room in the budget for this cause. Not to mention that schools in the US already obtain their food through grants and funding from the state and federal government in the first place. According to the Minnesota Department of Education, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP) and After School Care Program. USDA provides cash reimbursement to public schools, private nonprofit schools and residential child care institutions for nutritious meals and snacks served to children in preschool through grade 12 at a minimal cost”. Requiring students to pay for their meals is only furthering the US education system’s corruption as nothing more than a for-profit system, just like our healthcare. Additionally, how are low-income children supposed to reliably bring their own lunch to school if they don’t have enough food at home?
Food Quality
Now, in addition to making school lunches accessible to all students, we must also ensure the nutritional quality of said food is adequate at the very least. I am sure any of you who went to public school can remember more than one less-than edible lunch. Even the good lunches were not nutritious. I remember Italian dunker day was a popular one among my classmates, which involved two slices of cheese bread dipped in marinara sauce. My cousin, who is a school bus driver, posted on Facebook about how the school breakfast a couple of weeks ago was powdered sugar mini donuts and a cheese stick. Can someone please tell me how these are nutritious meals to fuel growing minds? Green Matters explains that the reason for poor food quality is budget, “Each school only gets about $1.30 to feed each child — and that doesn’t only cover the cost of the food. It also covers the cost of labor, equipment, and electricity”. How proposterous is it that the value of a child’s nutrition is valued at less than $1.30 after accounting for labor? As I mentioned earlier, if our government refocused its priorities, I know they would be able to find more than enough money for feeding our students decent meals.
Conclusion
In the end, this really is not a political issue. I want to see kids being fed healthy food, and I am not sure what is controversial about that. However, as with most issues, we must wait for our politicians to make free school lunch a priority, which is why we must vote with our priorities in mind. In the meantime, we can do our best to help by donating to local food shelves and helping our neighbors out whenever we can. Let’s make sure our kids get fed!
Want to read more? Follow my Instagram!
MDST 485 Class Blog 