Students eat lunch at Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School in Essex Junction, Vt., on June 9. The pandemic-era federal aid that made school meals available for free to all public school students — regardless of family income levels — is ending, raising fears about the effects in the upcoming school year for families already struggling with rising food and fuel costs.Students eat lunch at Albert D. Lawton Intermediate School in Essex Junction, Vt., on June 9.
"The biggest challenge is going to be on the children," said Christy Smith, supervisor of the Food and Nutrition Services at the Boise School District."Regardless of income, there are children who are hungry because children face obstacles to accessing nourishing food at home and those are the kids that are going to suffer the most."
Shannon McCarthy Beasley, West Ada's school nutrition supervisor, is on a mission to get as many kids as possible to buy the schools' hot, fresh and, most importantly she says, nutritious, meals. The challenges to pivot back to a pre-pandemic system are felt across the country as schools work to reach all parents, hire additional staff members to collect meal money in lunch lines and prepare to return to tracking the finances of each child.
In order to qualify, families must meet income requirements that are the same across the country. For thea family of four must make less than $51,338 to qualify for reduced-price meals and $36,075 to qualify for free meals. Sarah Kremmerling is a mother of two in Boulder, Colo., and her family has qualified for free lunches on and off over the years. For both kids, her monthly bill could total upwards of $200 if they were to eat at school every day.
Every child has free breakfast and lunch in Miami Dade County Public Schools, regardless of income. Why do you think that is?
Most federal income requirements are arbitrary and don’t account for the differences in cost of living from state to state.
I'm old enough to remember last year when Biden threatened to with hold school lunch funding.
lame
There's a lot of omitted,pertinent, info there. FSSA,Taniff,SNAP,WIC,are all still available to them. They have to make lunches for their own children,or the child learns how to make a lunch. That teaches some home ec & culinary skills to the parents &/or, the kids. That's good.
We are fortunate that our school gives free lunch and breakfast to every student. Aside from the obvious benefits, students get their food much faster and there is less fear of embarrassment about needing a free lunch.
I wouldn’t be able to afford having kids making $15 an hour.
If yt people didnt want segragated schools to keep their dumb kids ahead, we would be able to fund public schools.
Does Npr support castrating children instead of school lunches?
Problem Solved
It's disgusting to allow children to starve.
Some kids depend on those meals because there isn’t much going on at home as far as food goes. In my town they offer meals to kids over the summer.
Over the summer the Republicans voted against renewing the free and reduced price lunch programs which affected this school year. For some reason Republicans always vote against everything that actually helps the American people
Free school lunches increase positive student outcomes, reduce fights, improve student health and so much more... It's a demonstrably good thing to have and anyone capable of empathy should realize that a functioning society should want to feed children. Full stop.
$15/hr is enough to be able to afford birth control.
School lunches should be free for every kid.
Sad when they gave 14% Permanent TAX cuts to Corporations and a Record Military Budget and the GOP votes DOWN meals for KIDS.
This is why school lunches should be free nation wide. Glad my kid lives in California and I don't have to worry about him eating at school.
ask joe to pay it off. why should college graduates with better paying jobs due to a diploma be the only ones with gifted money.
Start packing your oven lunches
Correct quote: '...the only time I've been able to qualify for them is usually when I'm working like almost less than part-time — like I really can't be working at all to qualify for them. I just think that's kind of crazy when you look at, like, the price of living.'
Well yeah. If you work full-time you make more money so why would you qualify for free lunches. Duh!!
Weird how expensive things get when you print a third of the money in existence over the last 3 years.
America - land of opportunities where anyone can become rich. America's propaganda still lives.
It’s called packing a lunch.
Same, and we lost those free lunches specifically because our governor chose hateful policies targeting trans kids, disqualifying federal funds. Nevermind the budget surplus she brags about, families have to pay up.
All school lunches should be free.
Why should she work ? Everyone else should pay for her kids lunches.
Worth taking an economics class to understand the tie between government spending and inflation.
Free breakfast and lunch for all students. If it is mandatory attendance then feed them. Pretty simple.
Another ubiquitous but neglected story in our country, things cost more than what people perceive their socioeconomic class reflects. Indeed, we’re all quite poor, especially in metro Denver. Elections, and misguided political beliefs have consequences.
Two words: Sack. Lunch.
I'm going to make a donation to my local elementary school expressly for student lunch accounts that are running low. Kids just shouldn't go without in the United States.
Please. Brown bagging a PBJ and a banana isn’t as traumatic as npr makes it out to be.
How about packing a lunch?
Hey NPR, I know you are a corrupt tax scheme of a company, and your reader base have the intelligence of a troglodyte clan. But your dude Biden caused this on purpose. You see, the Dems create problems just so they can 'save us' from them.
Outrageous that parents are supposed to feed their kids! Are parents going to be asked to house and clothe them too?!
My mother got up every morning and made me a sandwich and put it in a paper bag. Give it a try
What happens to all the school taxes we pay? Can't afford books, teachers, or to feed the kids? Oh yeah, kids are ony important while in the womb..
Look, ma! More proof that means testing is bad and only hurts people!
'This means all schools will go back to requiring that families pay the full price for each meal if they do not qualify for free or reduced-price meals.' People who can afford to pay will have to pay again! THE ABSOLUTE HORROR!
Oh so we’ll pay off student loans of people who have an education and earning money. But we can’t afford to pay for school lunches for poor children or for children who’s families are struggling everyday. It’s always the elites that get everything. While poor minority kids get 💩
I recall a kind Irish school teacher brought snacks for the students, she didn’t sit back and acted childrenfirst
This is so sad, when I volunteered in a small rural town and again in Brooklyn, I saw how much children depend on these programs. I hope they reconsider childrenfirst
Can anyone tell me one piece of legislation from any ot these GOP clowns that has made their constituents lives better? The only peoples lives getting better,& by that I mean richer are the clowns we have elected to help us get there, not step all over us to raise them up.
Don’t have kids if you can’t afford them. It really is that simple.
If the party of millionaires stopped claiming expenses the $ could feed the kids
Idaho stole federal covid money meant for these kids and gave the rich a tax break. But tell us more about how you are prolife
A point dismissed by 🇨🇳Nat’l People’s Radio🇨🇳 👉School lunch funding is shouldered by the school district, county, state, then feds. Your article eliminates the first three in the accountability chain and blames the GOP…
Instead of food, they offer student loans.
They don't give a shit and I don't know why people can't understand that. 🙄
GOP making havoc again. 🙄
Wait… I thought republicans were the party of the working people? Did Ted Cruz lie again?
Why don’t the democrats relinquish some funds if they think the repubs are the culprits.
Seems like just another reason to stop voting for the GOP or better yet the GQP
This is bad. Compare administrative and reporting cost - vs savings of universal free lunch. Not to mention benefits of free lunches for all.
They are in it for the $$$, not for the future of America, our children.
Kids should NEVER have to pay for lunch at school.
Always money to kill people, never any to help them.
Congress made the decision to end free lunches & Democrats have the majority in Congress, so how is it the Republicans fault🙄
Bring some of that zielinski money back...
Unfortunately, children of color are a burden for republicans so they don’t support it, but white is right. If they saw this picture of Caucasian Children…they’re all in!
So, free lunches should last how long? NPR, very fair and balanced reporting as always.
Another win for the “pro-life” party.
“The economy is strong, people have more money than they did before, loan forgiveness will help everyone, employment is the lowest ever” “Oh but also we need to keep emergency funding for free lunches or else children will starve” Make it make sense
In an unrelated story, the state of Alabama just paid a football coach $93,600,000.
We have plenty of money. We given Ukraine $57 BILLION in just the last 6 mos! How much that is a day? There is always money for war, while they sink the country & currency. National debt is now over $30 TRILLION - that means $22TN have been added just since Clinton left office.
And Biden will block federal funds if the schools do not push trans policies.
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