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Trump
rule may
mean 1
million
kids
lose
automatic
free
lunch
By
CANDICE
CHOI
apnews.com
NEW
YORK -
Nearly a
million
children
could
lose
their
automatic
eligibility
for free
school
lunches
under a
Trump
administration
proposal
that
would
reduce
the
number
of
people
who get
food
stamps.
The
U.S.
Department
of
Agriculture
has
released
an
analysis
that
says as
many as
982,000
children
could be
affected
by the
change.
About
half
would
have to
pay a
reduced
price of
40 cents
for
school
lunch
and 30
cents
for
breakfast.
Around
40,000
would
need to
pay the
full
price,
which
varies
depending
on the
district.
The
rest —
445,000
— would
remain
eligible
for free
meals,
but
their
families
would
have to
apply to
qualify.
Children
automatically
qualify
for free
lunches
if their
families
receive
food
stamps,
but the
Trump
administration
has
proposed
tightening
eligibility
for the
Supplemental
Nutrition
Assistance
Program,
or SNAP,
which
was once
known as
food
stamps.
The USDA
is not
proposing
changes
to the
income
rules
for the
program.
It says
it is
addressing
a
loophole
that
gives
eligibility
to
people
who
would
not have
otherwise
qualified.
The
agency
said the
vast
majority
of
affected
children
would
still be
eligible
for
either
free or
reduced-price
meals.
But
Lisa
Davis of
the
advocacy
group No
Kid
Hungry
said the
application
to
qualify
could be
a
barrier.
“We
hear
from
schools
all the
time
about
the
challenge
they
have
with
getting
families
to
understand
the
paperwork
or to
get it
back,”
Davis
said.
The
National
School
Lunch
Program
serves
roughly
30
million
students,
including
about 20
million
free
meals
daily.
For
those
who
don’t
qualify
for free
or
reduced
price
meals,
the
average
price of
lunch
was
$2.48
for
elementary
school
students
in the
2016-17
school
year,
according
to the
School
Nutrition
Association,
which
represents
cafeteria
employees
and
vendors.
The
group
says
about
three-quarters
of
school
districts
have
students
with
unpaid
meal
charges.
The
prevalence
of
school
lunch
debt
shows
even
small
amounts
of money
can add
up over
time and
become a
burden
to
struggling
families,
said
Giridhar
Mallya,
senior
policy
officer
at the
Robert
Wood
Johnson
Foundation.
Earlier
this
year, a
Rhode
Island
district
at the
center
of a
controversy
around
“lunch
shaming
” —
singling
out
students
who owe
lunch
money —
said
$12,000
of its
$77,000
in
unpaid
meal
charges
were
owed by
children
who
qualified
for free
lunches.
The
district
said the
charges
were
incurred
before
the
families’
applications
were
approved.
In
details
released
late
Monday,
the USDA
said its
proposal
could
cut $90
million
a year
from the
cost of
its
school
lunch
and
breakfast
programs,
which
last
year was
more
than $18
billion.
It noted
the
actual
number
of
children
who
could
lose
automatic
access
to free
lunch
could be
less,
since
some
schools
offer
free
lunches
to all
students
regardless
of their
eligibility.
But
those
schools
do so
under a
program
that
requires
40% of
students
to be
eligible
for free
meals,
and the
rule
change
could
mean
some
schools
no
longer
meet
that
threshold,
Mallya
said.
The
USDA
released
the
details
of its
analysis
after it
was
criticized
for
failing
to
report
the
impact
its SNAP
rule
change
could
have on
children’s
access
to free
school
meals.
The
agency
has said
the
change
is
intended
to make
eligibility
rules
more
consistent
across
the
country,
since
states
can
grant
people
eligibility
if they
were
enrolled
in other
assistance
programs.
The
USDA
said it
would
reopen
the
public
comment
period
on the
rule for
two
weeks to
allow
feedback
on the
estimated
impact
to
school
meals.
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