State bill introduced to continue free meals in Pennsylvania public schools

Aug. 19—Midd-West School District Food Services Director John Rosselli will be sending his child to kindergarten this year and understands the importance of keeping school meal costs in check.

After two years, the free universal school meals program put in place for all U.S. children by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic has ended and school districts have been working to get help for financially-strapped families.

"I was prepared for it to stop. (But) going from free to paid lunches, it puts stress on a family. Especially families with two or three kids in school," said Rosselli, who noted that lunch prices were scheduled to increase this year at Midd-West to $2.40 in the elementary schools; $2.50 at the middle school and $2.60 at the high school.

Rosselli confirmed all students in the district will be eligible for free breakfasts and lunches throughout the 2022-23 school year through the state Community Eligibility Provision, which allows free meals based on a formula that considers several criteria, including financial need and special educational needs of a district's students.

Milton Area School District will also be providing all students free meals this year, but several other Valley districts are either not eligible for the program or are still waiting to hear if any or all of their schools are eligible under the state program.

Hoping to ease the burden, Pennsylvania Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-38 of Pittsburgh, the minority chairman of the Senate Education Committee, made a push to provide free meals in schools through new legislation she introduced Thursday.

"That would be a great help for all of the families in our district," said Warrior Run School District Superintendent Thor Edmiston.

Neither Sens. John Gordner, R-27 of Berwick, or Gene Yaw, R-23 of Williamsport, responded to The Daily Item's request Thursday for comment on the proposed legislation.

Noting the federal government's decision to allow the free school meal program to expire this school year, Williams said, "The return to paying for school breakfast and lunches is especially going to hurt families just above the income-eligibility guidelines for the free and reduced meals program. As we see prices rising at the grocery stores, now is not the time to take away reliable, nutritious meals from students.

"Whether we're helping a student who forgot their lunch at home, a parent struggling with the loss of a job, or a family just trying to make ends meet, ensuring that every student has access to breakfast and lunch with no shame or stigma is one of the most common sense ways we can help our kids be ready to learn every single day," she said.

In the meantime, a Pennsylvania family of four is eligible for free meals and free milk if the household's yearly income is no more than $36,075.

Families who want to receive benefits need to fill out a "Household Meal Benefit Application" on Pennsylvania's COMPASS website.

People who are already members of programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will also need to fill out the form.

Districts like Selinsgrove are informing parents of its roughly 2,500 students about the federal program being dropped and reminding them to fill out a free or reduced meal application.

The district has consistently provided free or reduced meals to between 35 percent and 40 percent of its student population who qualify, Superintendent Frank Jankowski said.

"Based on those recent historic figures, we estimate that we will have about 1,000 students which qualify for free/reduced meals this school year at Selinsgrove," he said.

Lewisburg Area School District does not qualify for the state program offering free meals so the district, at this point, will only be allowed to provide breakfast and lunch free to students whose families meet the federal government's income guidelines.

As of Thursday, 512 students — or about 26 percent of Lewisburg's student population — meet the requirement for a free meal and 23 students, or 1 percent, are qualified for a reduced price meal, said John Fairchild, director of administrative services.

Edmiston received confirmation Thursday afternoon that students in grades K-7 in the district do qualify for free meals this year through the state program. It does not apply for all middle and high school students, which he is waiting to hear if the schools were approved.

"We want to inform our families," he said.

It's evident that the global pandemic has had an impact on household finances' and student academic performances with Rosselli's observation that only two of the Midd-West District's school buildings qualified for free meals under the state's Community Eligibility Provision prior to 2020. This year, all four school buildings met the standard and will be offering free meals to all students.