Celebrate National School Lunch Week by Advocating for Stronger Child Nutrition Policies

Alison Maurice | Domestic Policy Manager | Alliance to End Hunger

National School Lunch Week, observed on October 10–14th, is a time to celebrate and highlight the importance of all children, but particularly children that belong to low-income households, eating healthy meals at school — meals that research suggests are some of the healthiest meals consumed by children in the United States.

Even the White House has taken note of the important role school meals play in ensuring nutritional needs of children are met. The Biden-Harris Administration recently released a comprehensive, whole-of-government national strategy to end hunger by 2030 in conjunction with the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health that was held at the end of September (the first conference of its kind in more than 50 years). The strategy advocates that our nation “reorient the school meal programs from an ancillary service to an integral component of the school day and allow schools to focus on providing the highest quality meals and engaging children around healthy food.” As one school counselor emphasized, “…a person cannot process academic concepts or feelings of belonging or esteem unless their physiological needs are met — food being critical to fundamental survival needs. When kids can easily access school meals, children are better able to learn.”

For the nearly 11.1 million U.S. kids living poverty, being back in school means additional nutrition support from the school meal programs; unfortunately, accessing free and subsidized meals will be harder this year compared to the last two school years. Since the start of the 2019–2020 school year, all U.S. children have received school meals at no cost as a government strategy to fight food insecurity, but Congress decided not to extend this benefit this school year. Low-income families nationwide are now required to complete an eligibility application to receive assistance to pay for school meals but many families who struggle to make ends meet don’t qualify for assistance. For reference, a family of four cannot make more than $36,075 annually to be eligible for free school meals, and a family of four cannot make more than $51,338 annually to be eligible for reduced-price school meals.

As a result, school meal providers will be up against the unfortunate but common issue of unpaid school meal debt, particularly among kids that are eligible for free or reduced-price meals but are not identified through the school meal application process. Additionally, nutrition providers still face major supply chain disruptions, rising transportation and food costs, and the threat of school closures due to COVID or natural disasters. These and other challenges make it harder to provide healthy meals to students.

Acknowledging the unpredictable year ahead, Congress passed the Keep Kids Fed Act to temporarily increase the federal reimbursement schools receive for the meals they serve this year, and other program flexibilities. However, Congress opted not to continue providing school meals at no cost to all families as it is a contentious issue given the high cost. But in between choosing to feed all kids at no cost or going back to traditional eligibility rules are smart and effective policy proposals that should garner bipartisan support.

Congress last authorized the child nutrition laws through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 and made significant advancements that led to more low-income children receiving healthy meals at school and during the summer. Traditionally these laws would be reauthorized every five years, providing an opportunity to make the child nutrition programs even more effective at feeding kids, but none of the recent attempts have progressed. Without further Congressional action, the additional benefits families and schools are benefiting from now will end and school feeding programs will revert to all pre-pandemic rules and regulations.

Below are several straightforward policies you can encourage your members of Congress to support moving forward, all of which have been proposed by the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee’s 2022 child nutrition reauthorization bill, the Healthy Kids, Healthy Meals Act and highlighted as key strategies in the Biden-Harris National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health:

• First, expand the electronic summer grocery benefit for low-income kids, referred to as “Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT)” nationwide. The success of Pandemic-EBT in feeding kids during the pandemic is an example of how effective Summer EBT could be if available to all kids nationwide. The program should be made available to low-income families during school breaks and the summer to supplement household food budgets when free and reduced-price school meals are unavailable.
• Next, increase access to free school means by enhancing the Community Eligibility Provision, often referred to as “CEP,” which allows schools that have high proportions of students that qualify for free school meals to provide meals to all kids at no cost. Making it easier to operate will increase the number of low-income children that have access to free school meals, and more schools will benefit from reduced administrative burdens and increased federal reimbursements.
• Finally, streamline program access by allowing kids who are already participate in Medicaid to automatically receive free or reduced-price meals at school without needing to apply for school meal assistance through an application. This will eliminate unnecessary paperwork for school districts and families and ensure children who live in households that have already demonstrated financial need can easily access the benefit without unnecessary hurdles.

The best and most helpful way Congress can celebrate National School Lunch Week is to prioritize the health of low-income children and update the laws to make the child nutrition programs more accessible. As the school counselor added, “Built into the routine of each school day, lunch and breakfast provide children and families with relief from concern and stress of where the next meal will come from.” You can support this effort by calling upon your members of Congress to prioritize feeding low-income children and tell them to pass strong legislation that will increase access to school meals for those that need it most.