Students are going hungry because Congress stopped free school meals

The National School Lunch Program returns to regular income-based rules, and some are concerned about an increase in child hunger as a result of inflation.

• Federal legislation providing free meals to all students expired this school year, so students are back to racking up lunch debt again.
• According to federal data, participation in school meal programs has dropped by 23 percent since free meals for all ended. The latest survey from the School Nutrition Association found that schools have accumulated over $19 million in unpaid meal debt.
• According to advocates, increasing meal prices and the need to reapply for free or subsidized meals are causing kids to go hungry at school. The federal government should do more, they say.

In the wake of winter break, schools around the country are reminding their students of the lunch debt they have accrued this school year – an ugly reality resulting from the end of federal assistance that covered school meals for more than 50 million American students in the midst of the pandemic. 

In just half of the school year, more than $19 million in debt has been accrued by students, with the help of community organizations, social media influencers and national nonprofit organizations. Several states are picking up where the federal government left off with free meals for all.

Due to their negative balances, plenty of kids will go without school lunches or get smaller, alternative school meals when they return to class this winter. Advocates and experts are looking for solutions following Congress’ decision to allow a pandemic aid provision to expire in June.

The situation becomes more urgent as school meal costs rise and families struggle to pay rent and feed their children. 

What is the amount of school lunch debt? 

School Nutrition Association survey results published Wednesday show 847 schools owe $19.2 million in lunch debt. Unpaid lunch debts are most prevalent in schools located in the Mountain Plains, Midwest and in areas with lower free and reduced lunch rates, according to the survey.

Across the country, school lunch debt varies greatly, and the median amount of unpaid lunch debt reported by schools in that group came out at $5,164, which adds up to the millions of dollars that are owed to them across the nation. At the end of November 1, lunch debt in North Carolina had exceeded $1 million for the first time in the history of the state. By October, one Wisconsin school district had accumulated more than $14,000 in school lunch debt. In December, a Georgia nonprofit called All For Lunch paid $130,000 to wipe out the debts of several schools across several metro areas. 

What is the significance of school meals?

The National School Nutrition Association’s Spokesman, Mr Diane Pratt-Heavner, said universal school lunches can improve academic performance, keep kids healthier, and reduce “lunch shame” among students who can’t afford their lunches. 

The No Kid Hungry campaign, run by the nonprofit Share Our Strength, reports that “students who eat school breakfast achieve 17.5% higher scores on standardized math tests and attend 1.5 more school days per year” than those who do not. 

How are school meals debt being helped?

Social media influencers and community groups are donating to help cover student debt and support initiatives that could lead to policy changes.

Solving Hunger, a program of Tusk Philanthropies, funds four organizations aiming to promote policy change regarding universal free healthy school meals. Vermont, North Carolina, Connecticut, and New York are among the states where the organization funds campaigns.

As part of a viral TikTok video, Sarah Stusek recorded herself paying off Mount Vernon Community School’s nearly $1,700 lunch debt. 

Students accumulated debts following the federal government’s decision to end pandemic aid, ensuring universal school meals last June. It has been reported that the Alexandria school district has a policy of allowing students to continue eating school meals, even if they accumulate debt, as part of its student nutrition program.

Stusek was so moved by this act of kindness that he wanted to help more schools in the future. In order to pay her debts at other schools, she opened a Venmo account and asked for donations via TikTok to pay off the debts. She said that a viewer matched the previous school’s debt and sent her $1,700, and she also paid two more schools on top of that.

“It’s great that Sarah is doing that and that so many community organizations are stepping up to help.” Pratt-Heavner, the School Nutrition Association’s director, said. The problem is that it’s a short-term solution, which is why Congress should provide school lunches.

New state legislation has emerged in recent years in order to ban the practice of lunch shaming – which would prevent schools from serving smaller alternative meals to kids who cannot afford them, thereby broadcasting that they don’t have the money.

In which US states do kids get free meals?

In the wake of the expiration of pandemic-era waivers granting universal school meals at the start of the school year, some states have been able to extend their waivers this year, including Massachusetts, Nevada, Vermont, and Pennsylvania.

In addition to California and Maine, Colorado is now the only state with permanent universal meal programs for all children, irrespective of their parent’s income level. 

It is also the case that a few districts, such as Chicago and New York City, offer free meals to their children. 

Are there any other meal-related problems in schools?

The schools in the united states are finding it difficult to get children to enroll in the federal free and reduced-price lunch program for schools, which is one reason kids are accruing debt. Despite not qualifying, some kids still cannot afford meals.

CDC data shows that student participation in school meal programs is down nationwide by 23%, with 31% of the drop occurring in the Midwest.

One in four of the 88% of schools operating USDA school lunch and breakfast meal programs reported that they were experiencing more difficulty in operating the meal programs this school year as opposed to the last school year, based on a survey sent out by the USDA in October.

But why are these sort of problems arising? According to the School Nutrition Association, some of the top challenges faced by schools all over the country include increasing costs, an insufficient staff, a lack of menu items, the discontinuation of menu items, and unpaid meal debt, which is one of the main causes of the problem. 

Is there a way to solve school lunch debt?

The School Nutrition Association, which represents over 50,000 individuals who provide school lunches to American schoolchildren, is asking Congress to reinstate the universal meal programs that were in place during the pandemic to provide free meals to all American school children regardless of their families incomes. 

In response to the results of the group’s survey, the group’s president Lori Adkins wrote, in response to the results of their survey that despite the end of pandemic-era provisions that once offered free food for all children, their long-term sustainability is at a tipping point due to rising costs, persistent supply chain problems, and labor shortages, which threaten to jeopardize their sustainability in the long run.

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