Ohio weighs continuing free school lunches now that pandemic money is gone

Ohio is grappling with how to continue providing free school meals to hungry kids, now that federal pandemic benefits have gone away.

Money authorized by pandemic-era legislation kept all K-12 children in school fed for free. The 2022-2023 school year saw a return of regular operation for school meals, meaning that millions of children lost access to food benefits.

Eight states used their own dollars to reinstate free lunch programs. California, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Vermont did this through legislative campaigns and Colorado had a statewide initiative.

Ohio is paying the full cost for students that qualify for reduced-price meals.

Previously, children whose families made at or below 130% of the federal poverty level received free meals in Ohio, and those between 130% and 185% got their meals at a reduced cost. As of now, children of any family who make between 130% and 185% of the federal poverty level will receive their school meals for free too. For a family of four, the federal poverty level is $31,200 annually.

The new state budget allocated schools 30 cents for each reduced-price breakfast and 40 cents for each reduced-price lunch.

One in five children in Ohio live in a household that faces hunger, according to 2023 data from Children's Defense Fund Ohio. That adds up to 413,000 children across the state, but according to data from the 2022-2023 school year, one-third of these children in food-insecure households do not qualify for school meals, as their families make more than the federal poverty level.

“We are the most successful country on the planet,” said Lisa Quigley , the director for solving hunger at Tusk Philanthropies . “We are the richest country in the world. And why do we have hungry people?"

Gov. DeWine: 'We'll figure it out'

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is trying to determine the best policy for Ohio.

"The biggest advantage of making it universal is it takes away a stigma," said DeWine. "You know, a lot of families can't afford it. My question is, should taxpayers pay for it? But what we do know is that it would take away stigma. We're trying to balance all those things. We'll figure it out. "

There are still many families making more money than 185% of the federal poverty level, but still in need of free school meals.

"There were gaps still. I had a few families that missed the cut-off by, you know, $27, $32," said Andrea Helton, director of nutrition services at Wellington Exempted Village School District in northern Ohio.

For Katherine Ungar, senior policy associate at Children's Defense Fund, the next step is to convince lawmakers to add money to the next state budget to pay for all school meals.

“The next step we'd love to see in the next budget: real investments toward school meals for all students,” Ungar said.

Group says public support for universal free school meals is high

Tusk Philanthropies hired The Tarrance Group , a Republican research firm, to gauge the popularity of this initiative in Ohio. According to Brian Tringali , partner with The Tarrance Group, the organization's survey , released on May 20, 2024, showed that public support for increasing these numbers and introducing universal free school meals is very high, even though it means an increase in taxes.

“A universal meal program for Ohio could cost as much as $300 million to taxpayers,” said Brian Tringali. “For a majority of voters, that was either no difference or unsure.”

After revealing the price tag, the support only dropped 5%, from 67% in favor to 62% in favor. On top of that, this support has not been skewed left or right, rural or urban.

Steve Tringali, former teacher and principal of Balmer Elementary school in Massachusetts, has seen promising results following the introduction of universal free breakfast and lunch in schools there.

“The number of students participating in breakfast went up dramatically,” said Tringali. “So, you almost have to think like, well did the kids always need it and they just never had it?"

A lack of food and nutrients can stunt every aspect of a child’s growth, making it difficult to learn and take in new information. In the eight states that added universal meal legislation in place of the former federal mandates, the results have been positive.

“Test scores are rising. Attendance is better,” said Quigley. “There's less stress and so fewer behavioral problems. And kids are happier, right? Because kids need to be fed, people need to be fed.”

Ohio has a system for feeding kids outside the school year. Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer in Ohio offers $40 per month per child in federally funded grocery benefits through a Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer or EBT card to the 837,000 eligible children in the state this summer.

Brea McClung, an American history teacher at Chesapeake High School in southern Ohio, knows about the consequences of food insecurity and spends her own money to buy snacks for her students.

Inflation has made the purchases more difficult in recent years, so she has become more strategic with her purchases. Creating situations where teachers must use personal income to feed students is one thing, but McClung has seen far scarier scenarios in her 25 years of teaching.

“Normally what starts to happen is that they just charge that lunch bill and then when they go to graduate, they can't get their diploma because they owe a huge amount of money,” said McClung.

McClung believes this is unacceptable, seeing food as a form of safety, and sees safety as a protection which the government is obligated to provide.

“Food is safety. And I feel like the number one priority of a school should be safety,” said McClung. “That has to come before anything else. Because if you don't have that, you don't have learning."

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio weighs continuing free school lunches now that pandemic money is gone