Advocates Urge Appropriations Committee To Keep Funding For School Meals

by Hudson Kamphausen

Advocates reminded the legislature’s Appropriations Committee on Thursday that if students arrive at school hungry, it makes it much harder for them to learn. And while they had requested more money for school meal programs, they said they were grateful the governor vowed to continue the funding approved last year.
Lucy Nolan, policy director for End Hunger CT!, reminded members of the Appropriations Committee that it is urgent that the $11.2 million earmarked for school lunches in the governor’s recently proposed budget must remain intact. Sen. Cathy Osten said in a phone interview Friday that there is another $11.2 million in ARPA money that could be allocated for school meals, and that it could end up being more than the $16 million that advocates were asking for. 
As part of his budget adjustment, Gov. Ned Lamont proposed continuing the universal free breakfast and reduced-price meal subsidies for school lunches. Osten, who co-chairs the Appropriations Committee, said that it is too early to tell what will happen with the proposed budget, and whether there will be an addition to the $11.2 million in general funds that was originally allocated in the governor’s proposed budget. 

Subcommittees will be reporting within the next couple of weeks, Osten said, and the Appropriations Committee, which determines the allocation of all ARPA funds, will be parsing those numbers carefully. 
Nolan said that while advocates had asked for $16 million earlier this year, she is grateful for any amount of funding for school meals. According to Nolan, 12% of families with children suffered from food insecurity in 2021. In 2022, that number jumped to 23% when the free lunch program ended.
Nolan said the $16 million that had been allocated for school meals last year – which will run out in June – amounted to 3,075,661 breakfasts by the end of October 2023. That, she said, was an increase of 394,795 from the previous October. That increase, and the service it is providing students, is vital, she said.

“If you send a hungry kid to school, they’re not going to be able to learn,” Nolan said. 
Another aspect of the school meal program that Nolan said advocates did not originally consider was the point-of-sale systems used by schools throughout the state. According to Nolan, parents who are depositing money for their children to use at school to buy lunch must pay a $4.75 administrative fee, each time they make a deposit. Those fees, she said, are not going back to the school but to the private company providing the point of sale equipment.
Dawn Crayco, Northeast Policy Director for FoodCorps, agreed with Nolan in her testimony, and added that part of instilling free school meals, and maintaining the program, is removing the stigma that comes along with it. Adding flexibility to the program, and allowing students to take the parts of the breakfast they want, Osten said, is something that will be looked at. 

Part of addressing the inability of families to reliably pay for meals is addressing the eligibility standards for free meals and reduced cost meals for students. The eligibility threshold for a family in Connecticut to qualify for reduced cost meals for students is a gross household income of no more than $55,500. Conversely, according to a recent report by the United Way of Connecticut, that same family would need a gross income of $126,108 to survive in the state. 
Crayco also said that while the federal government sets eligibility standards, it does not take into account the variance in cost of living across the country. This, she said, is why the state must give support. Nolan said it is important for programs that provide free school meals to gain access to more federal funding once ARPA runs out. Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a federal program which assists with both free breakfasts and reduced cost lunches, will still be around after ARPA runs out, Osten said. The eligibility requirement for CEP benefits for schools was recently lowered from 40% Identified Student Percentage to 25% in October 2023. 
Organizations like End Hunger CT! and School Meals 4 All pushed for funding for school meals up until the release of Lamont’s budget. In January, advocates held a press conference at the Capitol, supported by several legislators. 

This 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. Nolan said Friday that advocates learned during the pandemic, and from the infusion of ARPA money, that those funds are still needed. 
“The need is still there,” she said. “The need didn’t go away with the pandemic.”