Bill would make school lunch permanently free in Massachusetts
BOSTON - A new push is underway to keep meals served at Massachusetts public schools free permanently.
"You can have the best teacher in the world, a really great textbook, an awesome desk, a pencil that works....if they are hungry they are not learning," said Erin McAleer, president and CEO of Project Bread, an organization that helps people find food and lobby for hunger prevention legislation. She said in the past, more than 100 state legislators have supported a school lunch bill.
During the COVID pandemic, the federal government made school lunches free for all students.
Last July, former Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature extended the free school meals provision for another year amid the COVID pandemic. Supporters of the move say Massachusetts is one of just six states that still offers the benefit even though federal waivers for free school lunch have expired.
Currently, about 400,000 kids in the state have access to free meals, McAleer said, adding that the primary opposition is financial.
"There are a lot of competing priorities on Beacon Hill," she said.
The bill would require schools "to make breakfast and lunch available at no charge to each attending student." The cost of free meals would be paid for with federal funds and the state.
Bill sponsor Rep. Andy Vargas, a Haverhill Democrat, is sponsoring the bill.
'Do we ask the student that can go to the nurse's office, 'Hey can you pay for this nurse visit here? For your school nurse visit?' No, we don't," Vargas said. He estimated the bill would save parents $1,200 a year per child "while also providing financial relief for inflationary effects in the food sector."
CBS News reported last week that schools are struggling to provide meals for kids as inflation sends food costs soaring. A School Nutrition Association survey found that school meal debt has already topped more than $19 million this year nationwide.
