Sholeh: Free lunch a political hot button
If you’re a 7-year-old, cheesy bread and playgrounds make otherwise ordinary Wednesdays the highlight of the week.
That made school a year-round thing, sort of. Our little one scoured The Press for summer lunch menus.
“Look! Cheesy bread and apples today!” And off we’d go.
I’d watch my picky eater actually finish a lunch before all the kids and parents descended upon Atlas Elementary’s playground like a happy swarm.
Luckily, I could afford working less to spend summer with the kids. Luckier still, unlike some tablemates, we didn’t need free lunch; this was a weekly treat and we were grateful.
For many hardworking families, missing work to care for kids or being gone while children are at home make nutritious meals harder to manage. Recognizing financial challenges and nutrition’s importance for growing children, in 1946 the U.S. government instituted the National School Lunch Act.
States use federal dollars to help public and private, nonprofit schools provide free or reduced-price meals to low-income households (at or below 130% of the federal poverty level, or $32,328 per year for a family of four), as well as foster children and those on Medicaid.
After noting summer nutritional changes in children, in the 1960s the USDA also began offering free summer lunches for kids 18 and younger (a.k.a. “cheesy bread day” to us), regardless of income. The weekday summer food service program remains in place in Idaho in most districts.
Recently, the federal government instituted “Summer Bucks,” or Summer EBT, to offset grocery costs for income-qualified families between school years, at $120 monthly benefit per child at federal expense. While the Idaho Department of Education asked to participate in EBT, the Idaho Senate voted it down this year.
School lunch has become a nationally contentious campaign issue. Why? When did kids’ nutrition get political?
While opposition is nothing new, things really heated up about 10 years ago, when the federal government pushed to reduce obesity and improve school nutrition. Emphasis on widely available, healthier food choices also meant some government food contracts ended in favor of others.
As always happens with change, pushback came with the territory.
Proponents of free school lunch point to children’s nutritional needs and working families who struggle to make ends meet, as well as “gap kids” whose family income is just over the line but who are still hungry. As they say, “Hunger doesn’t take a summer vacation.”
Why the push to make it universal? Staff and parents observe some kids choosing to go hungry rather than feel embarrassed or bullied, with the credit system (or rumor) in full view of other kids. If it’s universal, no one is singled out.
They also point to studies connecting higher academic and professional achievement, as well as better physical and mental health, with better, more reliable nutrition.
Opponents say food choices and nutrition are the responsibility of parents and consider it getting something for nothing, a “no free lunch” philosophy extended to children.
Regarding universal free lunch programs, they point to families who can easily afford it not having to pay. They also say the current system is inefficient and vulnerable to fraud.
While Idaho rejected EBT, for now free and reduced school meals for low-income families continue in this state, as does the free summer lunch program for all kids.
Other state legislatures have considered ending either or both, but overall the USDA program remains supported by most states.
In fact, they’re expanding. Eight states have passed universal, year-round free school lunch programs (not income-dependent), and 28 more are considering it.
Meanwhile, 13 states have opted out of summer lunch entirely — mostly along politically partisan dividing lines.
Idaho’s School Breakfast and Lunch Programs are administered by Child Nutrition Programs division of Idaho's Department of Education. Learn more at sde.idaho.gov/cnp.
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Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email sholeh@cdapress.com.