SAN FRANCISCO (AP) \u2014 When classrooms in California reopen for the fall term, all 6.2 million public school students will have the option to eat school meals for free, regardless of their family\u2019s income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The undertaking, made possible by an unexpected budget surplus, will be the largest free student lunch program in the country. School officials, lawmakers, anti-hunger organizations and parents are applauding it as a pioneering way to prevent the stigma of accepting free lunches and feed more hungry children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is so historic. It\u2019s beyond life-changing,\u201d said Erin Primer, director of food services for the San Luis Coastal Unified School District on California\u2019s central coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several U.S. cities including New York, Boston and Chicago already offer free school meals for all. But until recently, statewide universal meal programs were considered too costly and unrealistic. California became the first state to adopt a universal program late last month, and Maine followed shortly after with a similar plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve completely leveled the playing field when it comes to school food,\u201d Primer said. The extra funding will also allow her to offer tastier, better quality food such as fresh bread, produce and cheese from local producers, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under federal rules, a family of four must make less than $34,000 a year to qualify for free meals and $48,000 to qualify for reduced-price meals. The caps shift annually but are based on federal poverty measures that don\u2019t take into account the high cost of living and taxes in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo it\u2019s just for the most poor families, and not even all of them because some people failed to sign up or were fearful to sign up,\u201d said Kat Taylor, a philanthropist and co-founder of the Center for Ecoliteracy and the TomKat Ranch that backed California\u2019s plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
About 60% of California students qualify, but experts say the number of children who need food assistance is much higher in a state with vast income inequality. Communities of color are disproportionately affected and immigrant communities in particular are fearful of applying because of detailed forms that ask intrusive questions such as their family income, Social Security number and children\u2019s immigration status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schools reported a declining percentage of families applying for free and reduced-price meals during the Trump administration, which attempted to tighten immigration policies and public benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like school officials statewide, Primer has countless tales of children who struggled to pay for school meals or were too ashamed to eat for free. There was the child whose mother called Primer, distraught because she made a few hundred dollars too much to qualify; the father who is in the country illegally and feared that filling out the free meal application could get him deported; and constant cases of high schoolers not wanting friends to know they need free food, so they skip eating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the pandemic hit, it changed everything \u2014 including how school meals were served \u2014 and provided an impetus for the universal program, which had bipartisan, unanimous support. Lawmakers previously had only pursued targeted bills such as easing school lunch debt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After schools shut in March 2020, many transformed their parking lots into pickup sites, and federal funding allowed schools to offer meals to anyone. There were no applications, qualifications and no questions asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The massive turnout showed how much families rely on the meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Los Angeles Unified School District, the state\u2019s largest with 600,000 students, handed out upward of 400,000 meals a day, said spokeswoman Shannon Haber. San Luis Coastal, with 7,500 students, gave out 30,000 meals a week at the height of the pandemic, nearly triple the number before. The district includes the wealthy city of San Luis Obispo and lower-income areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought it was a pipe dream for a long time,\u201d said Sen. Nancy Skinner, a longtime advocate for universal free meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Backed by over 200 organizations in a coalition called \u201cSchool Meals for All,\u201d Skinner and other lawmakers pushed for funding in the state budget, seizing the momentum at a time when California is flush with cash. The $262 billion budget provides $54 million for the coming school year, supplementing funding from the Biden administration through June 2022. After that, California will spend $650 million annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re a hungry child, you\u2019re not going to learn well,\u201d said Skinner, a Democrat representing Berkeley. \u201cWhy should we have to go through a bureaucratic hassle to get a kid fed, when we could just have universal meals?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Senate Education Committee Republicans supported the plan as a way to help families struggling with California\u2019s high cost of living. Sen. Brian Dahle, a Republican from a largely rural area of Northern California, said he had watched kids at his children\u2019s school steal leftover food when cafeteria workers weren\u2019t looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor a lot of them that was their dinner and they were sneaking it or taking it off someone\u2019s plate when they didn\u2019t finish it,\u201d said Dahle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schools rarely turn hungry kids away. But for children who didn\u2019t qualify and needed lunch, their parents were billed and many racked up huge debts. In recent years some schools threatened to not let students graduate middle or high school until lunch debts were paid, or stamped the hands of students who owed money, said Jessica Bartholow, chief of staff for Skinner who previously was an anti-hunger advocate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some schools would hire debt collectors to hound parents, but at the end of the year schools have to use general fund dollars to pay off lunch program debts, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Tina Self, a mother of three, avoiding the cost of $3 school lunches every day will be an enormous relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt might seem like a little bit, but it helps a lot,\u201d said Self, who lives in San Luis Obispo where a gallon of gas can cost just shy of $5 a gallon and rent is \u201ccrazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLucky for us we both have a job and we have two running cars,\u201d she said of herself and her husband. \u201cBut we\u2019re barely making it as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tony Wold, an associate superintendent of the West Contra Costa Unified School, says it\u2019s about time lunches were free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJust like you need to give students textbooks and a computer, there are certain things you need to do. And this is one of them,\u201d Wold said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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