This legislative proposal aims to permanently solve issue of school hunger
A proposal that would make universal free school lunches a permanent feature in Massachusetts is being applauded by local legislators and educators.
The proposed law would expand upon a $110 million one-year extension of a pandemic-era program that has provided free breakfast and lunch programs to students, without having to provide family income documentation. Advocates for the policy argue that it would ensure that students have the proper nourishment to learn, ease the burden on families, and reduce the stigma of needing assistance to pay for lunch.
State Rep. Priscila Sousa, D-Framingham, who also is a member of the Framingham School Committee, said making sure students are properly fed is critical to educational improvement. She said studies taken during the pandemic estimated that about 1,200 Framingham Public Schools students are food insecure.
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"A tremendous amount of our municipal budget and our state budget is given to education, and what a sad day it is when we pour in all these resources into these students, but they can't focus and they can't thrive academically because they are hungry," Sousa said. "Hunger and education are hand-in-glove, food is a human rights issue, especially when it comes to our children."
Last summer, the former Gov. Charlie Baker and lawmakers agreed to a $110 million extension of a state-funded program that provided free meals as local school systems continued to recover from the pandemic. The bill filed Thursday by state Rep. Andres "Andy" Vargas, D-Haverhill, and state Sen. Sal DiDomenico, D-Everrett, seeks to make that permanent.
The bill calls for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to fill the gaps of uncovered costs from federal programs, while encouraging schools to "maximize" their access to federal funds.
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The legislation also encourages districts to adopt the Community Eligibility Provision — a federal program that provides free breakfast and lunch for low-income students without collecting household applications. Schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed based on the percentage of students who participate in other social welfare programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Framingham has been working on tackling student hunger for several years, working with groups like Daniel's Table, a local nonprofit, to provide food to students in need. One recent development has been a program that provides frozen meals to be offered by school nurses when they notice students who may be experiencing signs of malnourishment, such as repeated headaches.
Cooperating to conquer food insecurity
Sousa, who started who first term serving in the 6th Middlesex District on Jan. 4, has filed a bill aimed at increasing collaboration among community organizations fighting hunger. She noted that during the pandemic, services needed to evolve to tackle hunger, especially with students not attending school in person. That meant multiple services aimed at preventing hunger in Framingham and beyond needed to collaborate to best serve the population in need.
"We realized during the pandemic, the importance of these organizations working together," Sousa said. "Nobody working in a silo — they are identifying need, identifying a solution and acting quickly. We can only do that by sharing information."
Program would assist more than half of Milford students
In Milford, Superintendent of Schools Kevin McIntyre said the free meal program "was one of the best things to come out of the pandemic."
He said more than half — 55.5% — of students in Milford Public Schools would qualify for the program, and that it has a strong positive impact on academic performance.
"If you don't have the access to meet the basic needs, such as hunger, a student isn't going to perform as well," McIntyre said. "Students need to be fed, and the program guarantees two strong meals for a student per day. We've seen a big increase in lunch participation since the program started."
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Uxbridge Superintendent of Schools Michael Baldassare spoke during a rally Thursday for activists promoting the bill.
"Hunger is a barrier to learning, I have seen the effects of hunger in many different venues," he said, adding that standardized test scores are typically lower in ZIP codes and communities where food insecurity is more prevalent. "Where children are hungry, scores are lower."
Kinga Borondy of the Telegram & Gazette and the State House News Service contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: New legislation proposes permanent solution to student hunger
