Are Free School Lunches the Answer

Photo byJoshua HoehneonUnsplash

House Bill 1775 is passing through the Hawaii State Legislature. It proposes free school breakfast and lunches for all public school students. Ensuring every child in the Department of Education has something to eat during the day is a noble idea.

House Bill 1775

Beginning with the 2024-2025 school year, requires the Department of Education to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students enrolled in department schools. Appropriates funds.

The problem is that many lunches go to waste because not all students eat school lunches. A major reason many students don’t eat lunch in school is that they feel it is not healthy or tasty. Fruits, milk, and bread are easy items to serve. But what about other food items, such as processed food?

Lunches must be readily available to serve a large student body in several hours, and the easier foods to serve are foods that require little preparation. Processed food meets that criteria. According to Khon2 News, a student interviewed said, “I at least tried it to see what it tasted like, and it tasted just as bad as it looks.”

One Kokua Hawaii waste reduction coordinator source said an elementary school can waste up to 50 gallons of milk in a single day. There are also reports of declining interest in school lunches. Hawaii Public Radio reported a decline in students eating school breakfast and lunch in Hawaii Public Schools.

With the declining trend of students eating breakfast and lunch in schools, the Hawaii Legislature introduced House Bill 1775 to offer free breakfast and lunch for all public school students.

Could it be that students are not eating breakfast and lunch at school because the food is not tasty? Spending more on offering unhealthy and not tasty food won’t entice more students to eat meals at school.

The meals will be free for all students, but many who can afford them will wait until they reach home after school to eat lunch. Would contracting food preparation from an outside source help with making meals more appetizing?

House Bill 1775 will make meals free at public schools, but that won’t make students want to eat school meals more often.