by Hugh McQuaid CTNewsJunkie
Advocates of funding school meals for Connecticut students called Wednesday on the governor and state legislature to allocate $16 million in the coming session to continue a program that has paid for the breakfasts of kids across the state.
The coalition, End Hunger CT!, held an afternoon press conference in the Legislative Office Building, where they and supportive legislators called for the extension of initiative, under which Connecticut dedicated federal dollars to cover the cost of morning meals for some 177,000 students who qualify for a reduced-cost breakfast program.
State policymakers included funding for one year of the breakfast program, as free lunches for around 13,000 students who participate in a federal meal assistance initiative called National School Lunch Program, in last year’s budget.
“We’re asking for that $16 million to be allotted again for next school year,” Rep. Moira Rader, D-Guilford, said. Without the money, the program will end at the end of the current school year.
The initiative followed a push to fund all school meals by advocates and some lawmakers, who wished to fill a void left by a temporary U.S. Department of Agriculture program that had paid for the meals during the pandemic.
School nutrition directors have reported that the percentage of students taking advantage of reduced priced meals declined sharply after the expiration of the USDA program, which had made meals free for all students, regardless of their parents’ income levels. Advocates point to the stigma associated with qualifying for the program.
“It is heartbreaking watching these students who choose not to eat because of the shame they feel receiving a free meal,” Ashley Carl, director of food and nutrition services for Plainville Community Schools, said. “It’s critical we address the shame and inequality surrounding this issue.”
Supporters also stress that children can not effectively learn or even behave in classrooms when they are hungry.
“By absolutely making [meals] a given, across the entire spectrum, means that we are proactively working to provide children a healthy life with food but also preventatively addressing things that adversely affect them with their mental health,” Sen. Ceci Maher, a Wilton Democrat who co-chairs the legislature’s Children Committee, said.
In December, the coalition sent a letter to Gov. Ned Lamont, asking him to support efforts to continue the breakfast program. Lamont will make recommendations next month for adjustments to the two-year budget passed last year. Lawmakers will receive those recommendations and work to craft a budget before the legislative session ends in May.
In a statement Wednesday, David Bednarz, a spokesman for Lamont, said the governor was proud to have supported the program last year and hoped to find funds to continue it.
“He understands the impact that this expanded program is having on families and is hopeful that his administration will be able to work with lawmakers to identify a funding source that will enable this expanded program to continue into the next school year,” Bednarz said.
The meals program will be one of several causes which policymakers will need to weigh as they craft a budget that complies with a narrow set of fiscal guardrails, including a state spending cap, which will leave very little room for additional spending in the coming session.
Lucy Nolan, policy director of End Hunger CT!, told reporters her coalition eventually hoped to see Connecticut join a growing number of states that offer free school meals for all students.
“We’d really like school meals for all, that’s absolutely a goal, but while we have school breakfast, we want to make sure that we retain that,” Nolan said.