school lunches - WKTV Journal

By Sophia Brandt
Capital News Service

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has proposed a new $160 million for school lunches to help close the hunger gap created when federal funding ended. (Pxhere.com)

LANSING – Michigan schoolchildren may be at risk of going hungry due to the federal government eliminating funding for free meals in public schools after the pandemic.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is now pushing a new $160 million proposal to close the hunger gap created when federal funding ended. If passed, Michigan would be the fourth state to offer free meals to all public school students.

“Regardless of the community, there are always hungry kids,” said Daniel Connors, the director of food and nutrition services at Chippewa Valley Schools in Macomb County.

Free meals were part of COVID relief

In July 2022, statewide free meals were no longer federally funded in Michigan. This school year, free and reduced meals programs are limited to families who cannot cover the costs.

The previous funding was provided through COVID-19 relief from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says families have to go back to the way things were pre-pandemic.

According to the Michigan League for Public Policy, around 715,000 kids in the K-12 public school system qualified for free and reduced meals in 2021, based on household income.

Access to all

Overall, about 1,443,456 children were enrolled in public schools in the 2021-22 school year, according to Michigan School Data.

Offering free meals for all students “removes the burden of worrying about paying for school meals, both for students and families. It also removes the stigma that may be associated with eating school-provided meals and removes the stress of filling out paperwork from parents,” said Mary Darnton, the food service director for Jenison & Hudsonville Schools in Georgetown Township, between Grand Rapids and Holland.

Darnton is also the president of the executive board of the School Nutrition Association of Michigan.

Connors said children who cannot afford a meal and don’t receive benefits may be given an alternative meal in some districts. When that happens, it may add to the stigma surrounding free and reduced meals.

“It is comforting at every level for teachers, parents, administrators and lunch workers. We just want to be able to feed our students and have that be the focus without worrying about paperwork and signatures,” Darnton said.

Connors said a lot of teachers keep snacks in their classroom cabinets. If children are getting school-provided meals, that weight is lifted off of teachers.

Not everyone meets the qualifications

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s guidelines use household size and gross income to determine eligibility.

Darnton said, “The thing with the guidelines is that they are set at the federal level. If a family is $1 over the income limit, we can’t extend the benefits. On paper, it may look as though the family does not qualify, but in real life the money for school meals may not be in that family’s budget.”

Whitmer has proposed that the state spend $160 million, which will cover free breakfast and lunch for 1.4 million students at K-12 schools, in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

If free meals become available to all public school students again, Darnton said the main challenge will be learning how to work within the new system.

Darnton said that providing free meals during the pandemic helped prepare school districts to do so again.

“Challenges for food service directors, like me, will be knowing participation will rise and making sure we can get supplies, staffing and training. We will have to learn how to feed students for free,” she said.

What is happening across the country

California, Maine and Colorado have moved away from traditional eligibility-based free and reduced meal programs and now offer free meals to all students.

According to the Food Research and Action Center, located in Washington, D.C., California and Maine passed legislation in 2021 to continue providing free meals even after the federal support ended.

In 2022, Colorado voters passed a proposal that raised taxes for incomes over $300,000. The added revenue will fund the Healthy School Meals for All Program to offer free lunch in public schools, said the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Michigan would become the fourth state with free school meals for all students if lawmakers adopt Whitmer’s proposal.

With rising inflation, grocery bills have been adding up, Darnton said, and enabling kids to eat breakfast and lunch at school five days a week will ultimately improve household financial situations.

Darnton said, “This is money that gets to stay at home and in the household.”

That means families can use that money for things like rent, utilities and everyday necessities, Darnton said.

“No matter what socioeconomic background, if it means smoother mornings, kids who are ready to learn and fewer discipline issues, schools are here and ready to feed those kids,” she said.

Sophia Brandt is a journalism major with a concentration in writing, editing and reporting. She expects to graduate from Michigan University in spring 2024. Her goals include publishing impactful stories and working for a newspaper in a big city.

By Sarah Atwood
Capital News Service

Michigan school officials are concerned about children going hungry or accumulating lunch debt after Congress recently ended federal funding for free meals for all students.

With the federal pandemic lunch program discontinued, parents must now fill out paperwork for their student to get a free lunch. (pxhere.com)

“Families are still struggling with the economic downturn during the pandemic,” said Thomas Morgan, a communications consultant for the Michigan Education Association (MEA). “It’s not over, and we need to make sure children are taken care of.”

During the pandemic, Congress passed funding to ensure all students got free meals. That ended in August, although children who would have previously qualified for free or reduced lunches will still be able to get them if their parents fill out paperwork.

Parents must fill out paperwork for free lunches

There have been instances where a parent did not fill out the paperwork, meaning a child could not get the food they need or goes into lunch debt, Morgan said.

Parents have to shift from automatically having access to free meals to having to fill out paperwork to ensure their children get what they need.

“Since paperwork was not needed for the past couple of years, some parents weren’t aware they had to fill it out for their children to qualify, ” said Tom Freitas, the director of food and nutrition services for Traverse City Public Schools. “There have been issues with not having paperwork in on time, which affects the amount of pre-ordering for meals.”

Trying to keep costs reasonable

Traverse City Public Schools are trying to make sure all children who need free or reduced lunches are able to get them, he said.

“We’re doing our best to serve all our children. Right now, our superintendent is focused on getting donations,” Freitas said.

“We’d never take away food from a child, but we do have policies in place to make sure we get the payment required. After a child is $10 in school lunch debt, the parents are contacted,” he said.

This could be a problem for parents who thought that their child was getting free meals and are suddenly confronted with lunch debt.

Other issues impacting the lunch line

Funding isn’t the only issue affecting free school lunches this fall. A shortage of administrators means delays in processing time for paperwork.

Morgan said, “There’s a lot of paperwork that goes into providing free breakfast and lunch. The federal waivers made sure every kid had a meal automatically, meaning the paperwork wasn’t necessary and so this burden was removed for administration.”

Others say the shift might not be too troublesome for schools.

“I don’t believe schools will necessarily have any real difficulty going back to the way free lunches were processed a few years ago,” said Jennifer Smith, the director of government relations for the Michigan School Board Association. “The waivers did make it easier for school administration, but it’s not as if the infrastructure wasn’t already in place.”

Schools could take it upon themselves to continue to provide free meals for all students, as several districts across the state do.

Grand Rapids Public Schools free breakfast and lunch program

Grand Rapids Public Schools have been providing free breakfast and lunches for all students for seven years.

“I think this has been extremely beneficial for our students,” said Jennifer Laninga, the nutrition services supervisor at Grand Rapids Public Schools. “All of the stigma with free or reduced lunches is eliminated. Students who would otherwise avoid using these services for fear of being judged are now on an equal footing with other students.”

According to Laninga, schools with over 60% of students using free lunch services can apply for Community Eligibility Provision, federally funded through the Department of Agriculture.

However, schools are not guaranteed funding unless over 80% of their students are a part of the free lunch program. A more universal approach would streamline the process and make sure all students have access to free and healthy lunches, Laninga said.

Working to get federal funding for free school meals

Congress is reviewing the Child Nutrition Reauthorization, said Alex Rossman, the external affairs director at the Michigan League for Public Policy, and there is a possibility that universal access for free lunches could come back.

However, that isn’t likely in an election year, he said. Additional funding would be hard to achieve.

The MEA’s Morgan agreed.

“I don’t believe it’ll go anywhere. It’s not a big priority, even though it should be,” Morgan said.

“It’s incredibly frustrating, especially when you realize that they’re literally taking food away from the kids who need it most.”

Sarah Atwood is a junior at Michigan State University double majoring in Social Relations & Policy and Journalism. She is interested in writing about how politics affects local communities and making information accessible for everyone. In her free time, she likes boxing, yoga, and spending time with friends, family, and her dog.