The month of August brings with it a wave of nostalgia. I remember the anticipation (and dread) of the upcoming school year, buying school supplies, and deciding what to wear on the first day.
While Jerry’s children have been back to school for a couple of weeks now, in Loudoun County, children head back tomorrow.
The last few years have been anything but ordinary. While students are returning to in-person education in the highest numbers seen since before the Covid-19 pandemic, uncertain economic conditions are creating obstacles to the bus stop.
For the last two school years, every student that wanted a hot meal for breakfast or lunch could receive one for free―regardless of their family’s finances. However, the universal school lunch program, made possible by Congress through the Department of Agriculture, ended this summer. While some states have committed to continuing universal free lunch, most will return to charging students. For students that cannot pay, the balance becomes school-lunch debt, which totals nearly $262 million across the United States.
USDA data indicate that roughly 30 million students received free meals last school year, compared to 20 million before the pandemic. With inflation in July up 8.5% from a year ago, prices are higher on nearly everything, including food. Families of all sizes benefited from the program.
Universal school lunch is a long-term investment in a child’s health and education. Access to nutrition has positive effects on academic performance. Health disparities arise early in life and explain a large part of the variation in human capital and economic outcomes among adults.
School budgets cover operational expenses, transportation (i.e., buses), and supplies―all understood as necessary to provide students with a quality education. Why should food be any different? Nutrition is also a necessary supply.
The Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022, signed by the President on June 25, extends funding to schools and daycare facilities to provide meals during the summer and upcoming school year. The act successfully implemented access to meals for low-income families and more flexible guidelines for nutrition programs. However, the act reintroduces a clause suspended during the pandemic: low-income students above the poverty line pay a reduced price rather than getting their meals for free.
The expiration of universal school meal programs also adds another task to parents’ to-do lists, as families must apply for waivers for the first time in two years. This process can be especially challenging for families and parents with language barriers or limited access to the internet and for single-parent households. Additionally, funds for administrative time, to distribute and certify applications based on income, and to ensure paperwork meets federal requirements, would be much better spent on the meals themselves.
Not all children will be affected the same by shifting school meal programs. Data show that roughly 23% of U.S. children live in single-parent households, on which the ending of universal school lunch programs could be a heavier burden than on two-parent homes. Also, Bloomberg recently reported that Indigenous American households have been hit the hardest by food inflation. And a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that 30% of Latino, 32% of Black, and 40% of Native American families have reported problems affording food.
As shown in figure 1, the percentage of single mothers depending on meal programs is particularly high for Black and Indigenous Americans.
An opportunity to mitigate the problems came with the historic Inflation Reduction Act. It includes a $369 billion investment in clean energy, it could reduce drug costs for nearly 48 million Americans, and it contains protections for farmers at financial risk due to USDA-backed loans and relief for farmers who have experienced discrimination in accessing agricultural lending programs.
All of those provisions are positive; people and the planet deserve to be taken care of. However, this Act completely disregards the matter of school meal programs. Through its muted effects on big business, it does more to protect Wall Street than it does to protect the needs of children. The obstacle of childhood food insecurity is likely to go on indefinitely.
Our mission at WISER is to influence public policy and promote equity. Please donate to our annual WISER Women Campaign so we can continue to make the invisible women we represent seen. Our goal is to raise $5,600.
