The push to provide free breakfasts and lunches to school-age children has kicked back into gear after pandemic funding expired. Several states have taken steps to make sure every student is fed at least once a day.
Here’s Five Fast Facts About School Meals:
- 🥪 These people love it - Nine states offer free meals: California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, New Mexico, and Vermont. Nevada has begun a two-year program.
- 🍕 Interesting Fact - The money is coming from some interesting places. In Massachusetts, it’s from their millionaires’ tax. In Colorado it’s from limiting some state tax deductions from wealthier residents.
- 🍏 What does this look like moving forward? - You might think school lunches are cheap, but that’s not the case. The average American household with two children spend about $162 a month, or $1,458 a year. Compare that to an average electricity bill of $122 a month and you can see it’s not small change.
- 🍌 This is why some are not excited - Ending the free lunch program didn’t save money. Instead, it actually caused an increase in debt. According to the School Nutrition Association, the median debt for each district in November 2017 was $3,400. In November of 2022, it was $5,164. Supporters of free lunch programs say it's necessary to help people during these trying times.
- 🍔Here’s how much it impacts your paycheck - Free meals don’t come without a drawback. Districts are no longer able to increase meal rates to match the cost of food, equipment, and labor. So, the state must reimburse them and we all know how quickly the state operates.
🔥Bottom line: Kids need to eat and clearly some families can’t afford it. The fact that the money isn’t coming out of regular folks’ pockets in some states makes it even better. Is this a case of “Eat the Rich” becoming “Eat Thanks to the Rich?” What do you think?
Do you support expanding school meals programs?
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