Coalition pushes to bring universal free lunch program to Ohio schools

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — Thousands of Ohio students come from a food insecure household, and a coalition is trying to help alleviate that struggle.

“We know that hunger is a really big issue in our classrooms,” co-founder of Hunger Free Schools Ohio Katherine Ungar said.

Ungar’s coalition is pushing for the creation of a free lunch program for all students, regardless of their household income.

“When we go to the classroom or when we eat together, we don’t like having these categories of who is free, who is paid, who is reduced,” Ungar said. “The students feel that and that’s really deeply felt by students who may qualify for free or reduced. When you make it universal, it gets rid of the stigma completely.”

Ungar said right now, one in five students in Ohio are coming from a food insecure household and one in three of those students do not qualify for federal free and reduced meal programs.

“We’re talking about Ohio’s future workforce. And so, making those investments now is only going to pay off for us later,” Ungar said. “We invest in transportation and textbooks and Chromebooks. And those are all really great investments. But we need full bellies for [students] to be able to utilize those resources and learn.”

But how likely is a free lunch program in Ohio?

“It’s something that we’ve got to correct, we’ve got to fix,” chair of the Ohio House Finance Committee Representative Jay Edwards (R-Nelsonville) said.

John Fortney, spokesperson for Senate Republicans, said “members think that it is a worthwhile discussion for the new budget year.” Budget talks will likely start up sometime in January with its passage likely by the end of June 2025.

In the last state operating budget, money was allocated to go toward free breakfast and lunch for students. But to make a universal free lunch program, Edwards said it is projected to cost $300 million.

“As much as I’m for it, I haven’t really been given any data to show how it works, where the costs are associated, and are there ways of saving money,” Edwards said.

Edwards agreed that it’s a stigma and fundamental issue that needs to be corrected.

“If you got a kid sitting in the classroom hungry, it’s going to be really hard to teach that kid math and science,” Edwards said.

But Edwards said come next operating budget, though he will not be House Finance Chair since he is not running for re-election, finding the money may be difficult.

“We might be having much different conversion when number one the federal dollars dry up and number two the state’s economic shape might not be in the same situation it’s been in,” Edwards said. “We can say free lunches, but they’re not really free lunches. Someone’s paying, but I want you. We just got to figure out again, how do we try to save money and do this the most cost-effective way?”

Edwards said while it is a bipartisan issue, funding this will likely mean cuts in other areas.

“I’d say people are going to be all over the place. Some people are going to say no because of the price tag,” Edwards said. “And how do you get 50 votes on such a thing? I think you really need to dive into the numbers and try to figure out if there’s cost savings methods that we can put into how we are currently operating school lunch programs in the state.”

Gov. Mike DeWine’s spokesperson, Dan Tierney, said it is certainly something open for debate, and added, “there are benefits to it, but like everything else we have to figure out if there is money in the budget for it or not.”

“People that might support this, such as maybe even myself, I would have to take a good, hard look to see, you know, what are we willing to cut to get to these priorities for the state,” Edwards said.

Recent polling conducted by The Terrance Group, a Republican research firm, asked 700 Ohioans how they feel about it. 67% are supportive of free breakfast and lunch for all Ohio students.

But Ungar said it is about more than just the cost. She said this is something that sticks with students. For example, as young as kindergartener, if a student gets to the front of the line and has reached a certain debt, the hot lunch will be thrown out and replaced with a cheese or PB&J sandwich.

“When you talk to nutrition providers, often what they see when that happens to a student, that student doesn’t return the next day to the lunch line because of that shame and that embarrassment. So, it follows them,” Ungar said. “Imagine they were just in class for 4 hours as a first grader and they get to the lunch line and now they can’t have that hot meal that all their friends are having at the table.”

Ungar said others school districts bar students from extra-curricular activities and some schools won’t allow a student to walk during their graduation.

“You can think about what that means and what how they carry that with them in terms of stigma for a long time,” Ungar said.

And Ungar said free lunches can have a positive impact overall on a student’s ability to learn and focus in the classroom.

“Chronic absenteeism is a really big issue that Ohio’s facing right now, and attendance is highly associated with school meals,” Ungar said. “Sometimes these students are waiting a long time before their next meal. And so, making sure just them knowing that they have school meals and that that’s going to be provided for them at school is a huge relief.”

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to NBC4 WCMH-TV.