School lunches for children should be free and paid for with taxes or government. Meals are free to inmates so why arent american children getting free food? When I was in highschool I witnessed a kid have a tray full of food then the lunch lady said he had no money on his account and she took his tray away. I asked what they do with it and she said throw it away… I paid for his tray and mine and I was able to give it to him. It has bothered me since then and that should never happen to a child
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Agreed. No child should go hungry at school. How much money their parents make should not affect whether or not a child gets to eat. If inmates get food, our children should as well.
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Okay, I think you have a good approach to this. when I lived in Illinois, I thought my lunch was free and then when I moved to Texas, I realized that lunch there was not free and then my mother told me that food in Illinois was not free either. Initially my first thought was of how ridiculous this was as food is a need not a privilege. At the moment there are programs where people in real need can get free food, but I strongly agree with what say. And even if we can’t make school lunches free at least make them cheaper. In Texas my school lunches were 3.50 a plate and it was me and two of sisters attending school which means my mother was paying a lot of money a week around 50 dollars if we ate school lunches every school day. With what I am saying it makes it all seem like getting school lunch is a luxury when you have more than one child in school. I support your claim.
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In California school lunches are free, but despite the district telling parents how “healthy” they are, they are absolutely horrendous. Think chocolate milk, canned fruit, processed meat, tons of added sugar, seed oils, everything is ultra processed. There is also a ton of packaging and food waste. Unfortunately, since the lunches are free, parents who used to make their kids homemade lunches are no longer doing so, and now their kids are eating terrible food that is causing health problems and diabetes.
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Not ALL families need “FREE” lunch. Students whose parents need free lunch can simply complete paperwork on it to receive that handout. Tax dollars could be used for things that are needed. Nothing is FREE. Workinf people PAY for these lunches.
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Our school breakfast and lunchs need to be once again cooked daily using fresh, quality ingredients. The garbage we have been serving, free or not, is unexeptable. The sugars, sodium, fats and processed foods have been so detrimental to our children.
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I absolutely agree! It has been horrible to watch the students eating these really bad foods.
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We have free lunches in Michigan for Elementary and the stuff they feed these kids is the worst of the worst. Pizza day is from Dominoes, who has the most notoriously chemical ingredients of any pizza company. It’s all garbage. I’m for free lunches but using healthy whole foods, safe ingredients, not overly processed stuff that I would never feed my kids at home.
Despite having free lunch as an option, I make my kids’ lunches every morning because I don’t like them being poisoned by the state’s hot lunch.
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yes! not many families can afford school lunches. and stop charging for extras. the schools meals aren’t very big for growing and active kids. they need more food and healthier foods than what the schools provide now.
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I completely agree with your statement. Free lunches at school are not healthy and making are kids unhealthy.
Its shit food. I don’t want my kids eating shit.
Yes but healthy lunches not ultra processed. Real meat, fruits and veggies please!
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As long as its state government and not federal, fine. The 10th amendment and article 4 restrict federal government to what powers they have in the Constitution. Its not the federal governments function. And yes, there are many things the federal government are involved in that it shouldn’t be. That all needs to be reversed
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I agree with this observation/proposal.
I would add that I believe the ability to cook should be part of the covered education as well as understanding health and nutrition. There are some schools where the kids are the primary chef’s of the lunches for other kids and have seen how this could be highly educational and beneficial in more ways than just providing food.
In this sense I wonder if rather than “paid/covered” by a Federal full program it is a requirement or more so a ‘Federal Standard’ to meet at a certain percentage.
I agree much must be at the local and the state levels. However, I also see a huge benefit of having standards that are recommended or perhaps required perhaps for some dollar amount of funding or access to deductions or to just be a Federal Standard or Accreditation like a badge.
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Depending on how this proposal was put in place it shouldn’t fully matter if one can or cannot afford. Further from the federal level setting dollar values for who gets what discount or free and for how long that works and the proof and everything gets quite complicated.
What I mean is first a lot should be based on how each state would want to try and meet a Federal Standard that perhaps doesn’t say all lunch is Free but rather that ALL students in Accredited Schools must be given access to nutritional food during their time in school.
I feel that there are other ways that “working people” could contribute, donate, or help. One reason for this is I do feel that programs that would help students be preparing food for the students could be embraced. In this sense whether it is cooking, putting out supplies, cleaning, or other aspects of “lunch” all kids could be playing a role… but again I think that is more local/state decided.
Or the federal government can do the job they are responsible for. That is to create a space and environment that the economy can grow in. This provides jobs and opportunities for people that cant afford lunches. Too much time is spent trying to medicate the symptoms of bad policies instead of fixing the issues at the core
I see free lunch’s and even breakfast in my area, but there seems to be a lot of obesity as well. Definitely not a balanced situation.
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I remember growing up in our school lunches were awful. Then the school board made a rule that the district office people had to eat lunch at a school three times a week. All of a sudden our lunches got way better. We got salad bars. We had subs.
No child should be hungry in America, during COVID the children had free lunches why not now??