Allegheny County Representative aims to eliminate unpaid school lunch debt

Lunch time in the cafeteria is typically what a student enjoys most except when they aren’t able to eat.

“When children are coming to school hungry, we can’t keep their attention,” said Dr. Daniel Castagna who’s the Woodland Hills Superintendent.

Hunger impacts their social, emotional and physical wellbeing. Right now, students at public schools only qualify for free lunch if their family income is 130% of the poverty level.

“I don’t think schools are in the restaurant business and I don’t think we are here to make money off of meal plans so to take that off all districts is fair and something that should be consistent,” Castagna said.

That’s what state senators are lobbying to change with a Universal Lunch Program that would provide free school meals out of the Department of Education funding.

But a new bill sponsored by Allegheny County State Representative Emily Kinkead takes it a step further. She wants to eliminate the $80 million of unpaid lunch debt at districts across the state.

“In exchange for that what the bill also requires is that no school district can engage in lunch shaming tactics, anything from giving kids an alternative meal, a bologna sandwich or giving them a hand stamp or wrist band or stapling a letter to their shirt to tell parents they have lunch debt,” Kinkead said.

Kinkead said this is an adult problem and not one where kids should be singled out in front of their peers. The bill has already passed the House and she’s hoping will pass the Senate to go into effect this coming school year.

“It is never a kid’s responsibility to figure out how to pay for lunch, they are not responsible for the circumstances they are in, they are not responsible for ensuring things are taken care of on the back end, that’s our responsibility,” Kinkead said.

Lawmakers are hoping to garner enough support for both of these programs to get them included in this year’s budget, as they return this weekend to Harrisburg for a special budget sessions.

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