Despite the expiration of a federally-funded pandemic-era school meal program across most U.S. schools, California and Maine will continue to provide students with free school meals for the 2022-2023 school year.
Under the Universal Meal Program, California students will be able to ask for a free meal, regardless of their family's income, at both public and charter schools. This is the first implementation of a universally-approved school meal program, post-COVID, that is not tied to any federal poverty measures.
The said measure ended on June 30, 2022, thus most schools across the U.S. will be back to their pre-pandemic school meals program, where only about 40 to 50 percent of the students are eligible.
However, a year before the waiver ended, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 130 to direct funds to guarantee a free school meal program for the upcoming school year. Maine Gov. Janet Mills also approved and updated the state's budget in June 2022 to reflect such an initiative that will also take effect from 2022-2023.
No more judgments on free school meals
Erin Primer, the director of the food and nutrition services at the San Luis Coastal Unified School District in California, thought the Universal Meal Program is but a pipe dream. However, it became a pressing need during the pandemic as the "scarcity and uncertainty" of the global crisis allowed parents and students to lean on the school meal program.
Previously, the eligibility and application into the free school meal program were based on the parent's income, which meant that some kids could eat better food than their classmates if their mom or dad could afford to pay more. Zack Castorina, an educator in the Los Angeles Unified School District, believes this new and updated program will no longer bring judgments among the children.
"Students continuously compare themselves to their peers in all forms and are aware of where they fall financially within their class," he said, via Truthout.Org.
The initiative will also destigmatize free school meals because everyone will be able to eat what they want in school. It will also help many families as their parents or carers at home will only have to prepare dinner for their kids five days a week.
Justin Strasburger of the Full Plates Full Potential non-profit in Maine said that the program will bear positive effects on at least 160,000 school kids in their state, who will no longer be shamed for taking free meals. He said that the reality is hungry children will not be able to focus on their school work thus the program will also improve their academic outcomes.
Massachusetts may be next
Massachusetts is also pushing for a universal free school meal program. A bill to set aside a budget for this initiative is currently waiting for approval from Gov. Charlie Baker after its passage in the state's House and Senate.
If approved, the program could still take effect in the next school year, per WBUR. Massachusetts currently follows a "Breakfast After The Bell" policy mandating only school districts with high poverty rates to offer free breakfast for a small percentage of qualified and eligible students. Now, state lawmakers are pushing to cover 400,000 school kids.
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