Posted on Apr 3, 2023
Meal debt is soaring after universal free lunch ended. How are Midwest states responding?
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After the end of pandemic-era free meals, schools are reporting rising school meal debt and fewer kids in their free and reduced price programs.
Pat Broz has been serving meals to students in the Mehlville School District outside of St. Louis for almost 30 years. On a recent day at Oakville Elementary School, the bouncing kindergarteners sliding trays toward the register were all dressed up for school pictures. She complimented their outfits as she rang up their lunches.
Yet this year, Broz said fewer students have been coming through her line compared to when school meals were free for all students.
“There was a lot more kids,” she said. “Everybody wanted breakfast and lunch.”
Pat Broz has been serving meals to students in the Mehlville School District outside of St. Louis for almost 30 years. On a recent day at Oakville Elementary School, the bouncing kindergarteners sliding trays toward the register were all dressed up for school pictures. She complimented their outfits as she rang up their lunches.
Yet this year, Broz said fewer students have been coming through her line compared to when school meals were free for all students.
“There was a lot more kids,” she said. “Everybody wanted breakfast and lunch.”
Meal debt is soaring after universal free lunch ended. How are Midwest states responding?
Posted from kcur.org
Children
Food/Chow
Poverty
Schools
Posted 1 y ago
Responses: 2
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Another thing that the "family oriented" right has ruined with their policies.
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PO1 John Johnson
When did it become the taxpayer's responsibility to feed kids other than their own in any given school, rather than the responsibility of the parents of those children?
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Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen
PO1 John Johnson When we bandeded together as Christians to help the needy.
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Now that families have to pay for lunches again, and low-income families have to apply to qualify for free or reduced price meals, schools are seeing cracks in the system.
The Mehlville School District is back to serving about as many meals as it did before the pandemic, but the number of students who qualify for free and reduced price meals has dropped from 30% to 26%, said Katie Gegg, director of school food and nutrition services in the district.
“Which doesn't sound like a lot, but with a district of 10,000 students, that's 400 students that might need the support,” Gegg said.
Just like those small changes add up to a lot of kids in the Mehlville School District, changes all across the country are adding up too. Preliminary data on the national lunch program shows schools served almost 130 million fewer free or reduced price meals in the fall of 2022 compared to the same time period right before the pandemic."
..."Now that families have to pay for lunches again, and low-income families have to apply to qualify for free or reduced price meals, schools are seeing cracks in the system.
The Mehlville School District is back to serving about as many meals as it did before the pandemic, but the number of students who qualify for free and reduced price meals has dropped from 30% to 26%, said Katie Gegg, director of school food and nutrition services in the district.
“Which doesn't sound like a lot, but with a district of 10,000 students, that's 400 students that might need the support,” Gegg said.
Just like those small changes add up to a lot of kids in the Mehlville School District, changes all across the country are adding up too. Preliminary data on the national lunch program shows schools served almost 130 million fewer free or reduced price meals in the fall of 2022 compared to the same time period right before the pandemic."
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