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Imagine a scenario where a child was hungry.
They’re in school trying to participate in a group project or finish an assignment for a teacher, and then a sense of hunger sets in. Couple that sense of hunger with a feeling of trepidation knowing that lunchtime may not bring relief because they are carrying lunch debt.
The embarrassment starts. They stand in the lunch line with their friends, not sure if the debt they incurred exceeds the school’s limit. If the debt exceeds the school’s policy, they will receive PB&J in front of all their friends instead of a more filling and healthy hot meal.
“Perhaps it’s better to just skip the lunch line today,” they think. This is not just a make-believe scenario, but one that happens each day across our commonwealth.
According to the Education Data Initiative, Pennsylvania students and their parents carried over $15 million in school meal debt and that is carried mainly by those who do not qualify for free or reduced programs. Because of the high threshold to qualify for free or reduced lunch through the federal government, many families do not qualify for federal assistance but are food insecure.
For instance, a family of four would have to make less than $51,338 to receive reduced lunch in Pennsylvania, this leaves more than 87,000 students who have lunch debt without assistance with an average of $170.74 per student.
This debt may seem like a small amount, but it is just a small piece of the avalanche of financial stress that families face in uncertain economic times.
As the pandemic relief Congress passed for two years that gave free breakfast and lunch to every child ended in June 2022, many parents struggling to provide for their families were faced with the reality that their children would no longer have that free lunch at school, giving them one more thing to worry about.
Within our state, school districts are able to ‘shame’ students for their debt by excluding them from activities or using collection agencies. Districts do not want to do this, cafeteria workers do not want to do this and the administrative cost of chasing this debt is more burdensome than most realize.
Some might say there is no such thing as a free lunch. How can we put a price tag on child hunger? The claim of embellishment comes from people who have not witnessed the trauma of childhood hunger firsthand. We shouldn’t shame these innocent students.
The ones who always fall through the cracks when government spending is slashed are our most vulnerable — children. It is at no fault that they are denied a juice because they incurred too much debt or a warm meal because their check did not clear. The educational benefits of students that are well-fed include the ability to focus more, fewer behavior issues and a better school environment for everyone.
Many students today rely on schools to provide them with breakfast and lunch as they lack adequate sources of food at home. More schools today are providing kids with weekend food as well, so they have something to eat if there is nothing at home.
Let us come together, as a compassionate society, and prioritize children by eliminating their meal debt, providing universal meals at school and ensuring no kid goes hungry in this country.
No one is exempt from the call to feed the hungry, no matter the cost. But for those looking at the cost to provide universal meals to students and cancel student lunch debt, it would be less than 1% of Governor Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget.
Help support the PA Lunch Debt Coalition and get involved by emailing nolunchdebt@gmail.com and contacting your local senator and asking them to support SB 180 (universal school meals and cancellation of meal debt for students).
Vito Malacari is a Democratic committee person and a member of the PA Lunch Debt Coalition.