There are political fights over almost everything these days as the Congress and the administration work to iron out another round of subsidies to offset impacts of the coronavirus -- amid the more or less normal budget battles.
In one such fight, POLITICO is reporting that “millions of kids could lose access to free meals” if recent practices are ended -- and that efforts are underway to counter that proposed USDA shift.
During the spring and summer, as the coronavirus health crisis exploded, the government allowed most families to pick up free meals from whichever school was closest or most convenient without proving they were low-income. But that effort is on the verge of expiring as children prepare to return to school – and many school systems are pushing the federal government to continue the free meals into the future.
So far, USDA isn't on board with an extension, POLITICO says, but school leaders are asking Congress “to force the government's hand as it buckles down to work on the next coronavirus aid package.”
“It's impossible. It's insane,” said Katie Wilson, executive director of the Urban School Food Alliance, which represents the largest school districts in the country, including those in New York, Chicago and Dallas. “Our districts have been screaming about it. They're panicked.”
If USDA doesn't extend the program's flexibility through the fall, families may be able to get food for their children only from the school where they are enrolled, after being deemed eligible for help -- a change that could create logistical barriers for many families, particularly those without cars or with parents working multiple jobs.
USDA says it is working with lawmakers as they develop the next coronavirus relief package. “This is [uncharted] territory, but we remain committed to ensure all children have food to eat throughout this pandemic,” the spokesperson said.
The department has already extended several waivers that make it easier to feed kids this school year, including loosening rules on nutrition and restrictions on who can pick up the meals -- but have “drawn a line” at requests to continue waiving eligibility rules.
Federal school nutrition programs often have been political targets, with disparate interests disagreeing about everything from fruit and vegetable servings to how much salt can be in pizza. But free meals have found broad backing, at least during the recent pandemic.
“This is still an emergency and we need to treat it that way,” said Diane Pratt-Heavner, a spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association, a group representing more than 50,000 local leaders who run school meal programs across the country.
The group has activated its vast network of local school officials to send nearly 20,000 emails to lawmakers asking them to pressure USDA to approve the remaining waivers for the rest of the school year. A spending bill on the House side includes language urging USDA to act. There's also a letter circulating in the Senate pressing the issue.
Most school cafeteria programs already face much higher food, labor, transportation and packaging costs, as they have been essentially operating emergency meals programs for months. Nutrition providers had to come up with creative ways to still feed their students with schools shut down. Most districts are now operating some form of meal pickups, and some are even dropping meals off at students' homes on a regular basis.
It's unclear how many students who have been getting help under the waived eligibility rules might get cut off if traditional rules go back into effect. “We're going to be going from a situation where we were just providing meals to all kids, no questions asked … to having to track by student name and status, so that you can charge families if they don't qualify by submitting a free and reduced meal application,” said Rosie Krueger, Vermont's director of child nutrition programs.
In 2018, the National School Lunch Program, which serves a mix of free, subsidized and paid meals to nearly 30 million children, cost just under $14 billion. An estimated 51 million children are projected to enroll in public elementary and high schools this fall.
Some high-poverty school districts already serve universal free meals under what's called the Community Eligibility Provision, something that's available to schools if a certain percentage of their students already qualify for help. About 30 percent of schoolchildren were in schools with universal free meals in the 2019 school year.
Jessica Shelly, director of student dining services for Cincinnati Public Schools, said she wants to see USDA aggressively press for free meals this year.
She recalled meeting USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue at a school nutrition conference years ago. “I remember him saying to all of us, to do right and feed everyone,” she said. “I am just really hoping that USDA recognizes that the motto needs to be embraced not just by us … but also by them. If they want us to do right and feed everyone, then they need to help us do that.”
So, we will see. These nutrition programs are important to many participants, and will be badly missed if they are not continued – but, they are expensive and highly visible to opponents. Efforts to continue them likely will be highly controversial and should be watched closely by producers as they intensify, Washington Insider believes.
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