Before California became the first state to implement a universal meals program for its 6.2 million public school students, Alyssa Wells would keep granola bars in her classroom for students who complained of being hungry.
When the new program began in August at Foussat elementary school in Oceanside, California, which is primarily attended by Latino students from low-income families, the teacher noticed immediate changes in her students. “The kids are eating way more and they’re more focused, eager to learn and they’re just happier,” she said. “They’ve got one less thing to worry about.”
In San Diego county, where Oceanside is located, more than 14%, or 100,000 children, are food insecure, with a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life.
Parents, educators, school officials and anti-hunger organizations say the program – which serves all kids regardless of family income – will also improve school performance and remove the stigma associated with free and reduced price lunches. California has the country’s largest population of public school students, which now means that about 12% of American children have access to free breakfast and lunch through this state legislation, made possible by an unexpected budget surplus. Maine passed a similar universal meals program right after California.
Another teacher, Sydnee Trelease, said Foussat students were especially interested in fresh fruits and the salad bar. “There’s different food they may not be used to,” she said, “and because it’s free, it gives them a chance to expand their palate without feeling pressure.”
The rollout of California’s new program comes after Joe Biden announced a goal to end hunger by 2030 and as the Biden administration prepares to host the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the first of its kind since 1969, on 28 September.
Levels of food insecurity and hunger have barely improved in the past two decades, with major spikes linked to high unemployment during the Great Recession and first year of the Covid pandemic. Food insecurity is directly linked to poverty and last year, more than 5m households – the equivalent of one in 10 American families – skipped meals and cut portion sizes because they couldn’t afford enough food.
Despite these alarming numbers, in 2021, Covid relief programs such as child tax credits, an expansion of food stamps and universal free school meals actually helped cut hunger in households with children to the lowest level on record.
In the long term, eradicating hunger can only be achieved by tackling the root causes of poverty, but experts say universal school meals for all are an important part of trying to reach that goal. Congressional Democrats have been pushing for legislation to make such support permanent, but the politics are complicated.
“Increased food security helps children succeed academically and break the cycle of poverty,” said Gary Sloan, chief US operations officer at the non-profit Feed the Children. “It also allows parents to reallocate these financial resources to provide food and essentials for their home.”
For the one in three California households who struggle to meet basic needs, the program is a gamechanger.
Hunger can affect cognitive function, overall health, moods and attention spans. There’s also a psychological toll to being food insecure. Research shows that free school meals are linked to improved academic achievement and a decreased incidence of bad behavior.
Anti-hunger advocacy groups say the program will also help create more racial equity in California, where marginalized communities face food insecurity at higher rates than the white population.
Some communities of color and immigrant families had said they were afraid to sign up for free or reduced price lunches due to detailed forms that ask invasive questions about income and immigration status. Others feel embarrassed to receive free meals. Now California’s children can access breakfast and lunch on equal footing.
After the onset of the pandemic in 2020, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) waived eligibility requirements so that students could get free meals year-round, in order to prevent a looming child hunger crisis.
USDA data and research suggests these universal school meals coincided with food insecurity rates among children decreasing between 2020 and 2021.
The program expired this summer even as lower-income families confronted hardships such as higher food and gas prices and economic uncertainty, all of which lead to increased hunger.
In July, an aide to Senator Mitch McConnell said that the minority leader and other Republicans did not think schools needed the pandemic-era provisions since the conditions that made them necessary had ended.
But “when these programs are unavailable or compromised, children face increased risks of chronic hunger and food insecurity – meaning they can’t be sure how or when they will get their next meal,” said Sloan.
States including Nevada, Vermont and Massachusetts extended free school meals for the 2022-2023 school year and momentum is building for universal statewide programs similar to California’s and Maine’s across the country.
Nearly a dozen states, including Colorado, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, are working to pass permanent legislation, and major US cities including New York, Boston and Chicago already offer free school meals for all.
“We spend billions of dollars on education funding and if teachers have hungry students in their classroom, we’re wasting our money,” said Crystal FitzSimons, director of school programs at Food Research & Action Center (Frac), one of the more than 200 organizations that backed California’s plan.
“This is not rocket science. Everybody knows when kids are hungry they can’t focus or concentrate.”
Frac and other advocacy groups are calling on the White House to explore strategies to permanently move all US schools to a free national system.
The country already has a national school lunch program and school breakfast program operating in schools and residential childcare institutions. Children from families with incomes at or below 130% of the federal poverty level are eligible for free meals, while those with incomes between 130% and 185% of the federal poverty level are eligible for reduced price meals.
A spokesperson for Senator John Boozman, the top Republican on the Senate agriculture committee, recently said he would not support attaching universal school meals to a must-pass stopgap bill to keep the government funded. Conservative critics have said free meal programs are costly and a handout to affluent families.
But Norm Fruchter, senior consultant at New York University’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools, said more legislation on free meals could pass based on what happens in California.
“It’s a mystery to me why more states and districts haven’t come on board already because there’s no downside here,” he said. “I don’t know why states are hesitating.”
Free school meals for all students are already popular among Americans. In December 2021, almost 70% of adults supported universal meals, according to a survey conducted by the Urban Institute.
For Sandra Medellin, who has two daughters attending Foussat elementary, the state’s new program saves her time and money and makes it easier for her kids to try more nutritious foods.
“Sometimes there’s no time for breakfast and sometimes by the second week of the month I’m short on money to buy healthy stuff,” she said.
As a single mom who works full-time and attends school online, Daniela Solis, another Foussat parent, welcomed the arrival of universal meals. “The new program is just amazing,” she said. “It gives all students access to adequate and nutritious food at school, as it should have always been.”
Solis said her son liked to bring a lunchbox from home, but he enjoyed having supplemental choices. On the few occasions they have forgotten to bring his lunch, the free meals program was there as a safety net.
“How can we as a nation claim to have such a strong economy and successful riches when we have children that do not have access to food?” Solis said. “These are the kind of programs that our taxes should be used for.”
Additional reporting by Nina Lakhani
