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A28 US NEWS
Diamars 20 Juli 2021
California launches largest free school lunch program in US

(AP) — When classrooms go through a bureaucratic
in California reopen for hassle to get a kid fed, when
the fall term, all 6.2 mil- we could just have universal
lion public school stu- meals?”
dents will have the option
to eat school meals for Senate Education Commit-
free, regardless of their tee Republicans supported
family’s income. the plan as a way to help fam-
ilies struggling with Califor-
The undertaking, made pos- nia’s high cost of living. Sen.
sible by an unexpected bud- Brian Dahle, a Republican
get surplus, will be the largest from a largely rural area of
free student lunch program Northern California, said he
in the country. School offi- had watched kids at his chil-
cials, lawmakers, anti-hunger dren’s school steal leftover
organizations and parents are food when cafeteria workers
applauding it as a pioneering weren’t looking.
way to prevent the stigma of
accepting free lunches and “For a lot of them that was
feed more hungry children. their dinner and they were
sneaking it or taking it off
“This is so historic. It’s be- someone’s plate when they
yond life-changing,” said didn’t finish it,” said Dahle.
Erin Primer, director of food
services for the San Luis Schools rarely turn hungry
Coastal Unified School Dis- kids away. But for children
trict on California’s central who didn’t qualify and need-
coast. ed lunch, their parents were
billed and many racked up
Several U.S. cities includ- huge debts. In recent years
ing New York, Boston and some schools threatened to
Chicago already offer free not let students graduate
school meals for all. But until middle or high school un-
recently, statewide universal til lunch debts were paid, or
meal programs were consid- stamped the hands of stu-
ered too costly and unreal- dents who owed money, said
istic. California became the Jessica Bartholow, chief of
first state to adopt a universal staff for Skinner who previ-
program late last month, and ously was an anti-hunger ad-
Maine followed shortly after vocate.
with a similar plan.
Some schools would hire
“We’ve completely lev- debt collectors to hound par-
eled the playing field when much higher in a state with not wanting friends to know out 30,000 meals a week at ents, but at the end of the year
it comes to school food,” vast income inequality. Com- they need free food, so they the height of the pandemic, schools have to use general
Primer said. The extra fund- munities of color are dispro- skip eating. nearly triple the number be- fund dollars to pay off lunch
ing will also allow her to of- portionately affected and im- fore. The district includes program debts, she said.
fer tastier, better quality food migrant communities in par- When the pandemic hit, it the wealthy city of San Luis
such as fresh bread, produce ticular are fearful of applying changed everything — in- Obispo and lower-income For Tina Self, a mother of
and cheese from local pro- because of detailed forms cluding how school meals areas. three, avoiding the cost of $3
ducers, she said. that ask intrusive questions were served — and provided school lunches every day will
such as their family income, an impetus for the universal “I thought it was a pipe be an enormous relief.
Under federal rules, a fam- Social Security number and program, which had bipar- dream for a long time,” said
ily of four must make less children’s immigration sta- tisan, unanimous support. Sen. Nancy Skinner, a long- “It might seem like a little bit,
than $34,000 a year to qualify tus. Lawmakers previously had time advocate for universal but it helps a lot,” said Self,
for free meals and $48,000 only pursued targeted bills free meals. who lives in San Luis Obispo
to qualify for reduced-price Schools reported a declining such as easing school lunch where a gallon of gas can cost
meals. The caps shift annu- percentage of families apply- debt. Backed by over 200 organi- just shy of $5 a gallon and
ally but are based on federal ing for free and reduced-price After schools shut in March zations in a coalition called rent is “crazy.”
poverty measures that don’t meals during the Trump ad- 2020, many transformed “School Meals for All,” Skin-
take into account the high ministration, which attempt- their parking lots into pickup ner and other lawmakers “Lucky for us we both have
cost of living and taxes in ed to tighten immigration sites, and federal funding al- pushed for funding in the a job and we have two run-
California. policies and public benefits. lowed schools to offer meals state budget, seizing the mo- ning cars,” she said of herself
to anyone. There were no ap- mentum at a time when Cali- and her husband. “But we’re
“So it’s just for the most poor Like school officials state- plications, qualifications and fornia is flush with cash. The barely making it as it is.”
families, and not even all of wide, Primer has countless no questions asked. $262 billion budget provides
them because some people tales of children who strug- $54 million for the coming Tony Wold, an associ-
failed to sign up or were fear- gled to pay for school meals The massive turnout showed school year, supplementing ate superintendent of the
ful to sign up,” said Kat Tay- or were too ashamed to eat how much families rely on funding from the Biden ad- West Contra Costa Unified
lor, a philanthropist and ma- for free. There was the child the meals. ministration through June School, says it’s about time
jor funder of the Center for whose mother called Primer, 2022. After that, California lunches were free.
Ecoliteracy and the TomKat distraught because she made The Los Angeles Unified will spend $650 million an-
Ranch that backed Califor- a few hundred dollars too School District, the state’s nually. “Just like you need to give
nia’s plan. much to qualify; the father largest with 600,000 stu- students textbooks and a
who is in the country illegally dents, handed out upward “If you’re a hungry child, computer, there are certain
About 60% of California and feared that filling out the of 400,000 meals a day, said you’re not going to learn things you need to do. And
students qualify, but experts free meal application could spokeswoman Shannon well,” said Skinner, a Demo- this is one of them,” Wold
say the number of children get him deported; and con- Haber. San Luis Coastal, crat representing Berkeley. said.
who need food assistance is stant cases of high schoolers with 7,500 students, gave “Why should we have to