- Legislative bill would offer no-cost school lunch to Utah K-12 students currently receiving "reduced price" school meals.
- The bill also aims to protect affected students from embarrassment or shame.
- HB100 unanimously passed the Senate Education Committee on Monday.
A Logan high school student-athlete scavenges for pizza in the school dumpster prior to a game to take the edge off his hunger.
A West Valley City girl living out of her family car has no way to cook the box of macaroni & cheese she received from the local food bank.
And a Beaver child eats dog food because her family does not have access to food at home.
Such accounts of Utah school kids battling hunger helped fuel Rep. Tyler Clancy’s sponsorship of the so-called “Food Security” school lunch bill.
House Bill 100 expands the number of Utah’s K-12 students eligible to receive free school lunch — while shielding participating kids from embarrassment and also aiming to reduce food waste.
Clancy, R-Provo, said HB100 — which unanimously passed the Senate Education Committee on Monday — creates “an intervention in our education system that represents less than 1% of our entire education budget to make sure that students are not hungry in the classroom.”
Hungry kids in Utah classrooms, he added, is a reality. “One in six children in Utah is facing food insecurity.”
A trio of provisions highlight HB100, which has undergone several revisions:
- First, all K-12 students who would currently be eligible for “reduced price” meals would be moved to the “no cost” classification for the lunchtime meal. School breakfast is not included in the bill.
- Second, protecting kids receiving free school lunch from embarrassment.
- And third, limiting food waste by encouraging schools to expand lunch period times while implementing “shared tables” where students can return, say, sealed or unopened food items to be consumed by others.
Scrapping ‘reduced price’ meals
Eliminating the “reduced price threshold” is a defining element of Clancy’s bill.
“Each year, our schools are generating about $2.8 million in school meal debt,” said the lawmaker in a report to the House Education Committee last month.
If it passes, HB100 would reportedly provide no-cost meals for 40,000 currently classified “reduced price” children whose families are perhaps waging daily battles to stay in the middle class.
“These are families that a couple years ago probably would be considered middle class — but due to inflation and a number of other concerns, the price of food in particular has hit these families hard,” said Clancy during Monday’s presentation.
The price of a healthy meal in Utah’s San Juan County, he noted, “has gone up 77% since 2020.”
Hunger can exact a costly price in the classroom, said Clancy. “We know that there’s a lot of negative consequences from student hunger in the classroom — everything from mental health to lower test scores, behavioral problems and dropout rates.”
Allowing “reduced price school lunch” students to receive “no-cost” school lunch, he added, would signal “a small adjustment to our social safety net” that can keep many Utah families on the path to self-sufficiency — and well-fed students succeeding in the classroom.
“We can maximize the $7 billion-plus investment in public education that we have here in the state with less than 1% of this investment” appropriated by the bill.
The bill’s fiscal note is estimated to be $2.5 million.
No shame — and lunchroom ‘share tables’
HB100 also requires schools to protect students who are receiving “no-cost” school lunch from being stigmatized or embarrassed. Special buttons, different-colored lunch trays or other things that might identify free-meal recipients to their classmates are prohibited.
“The shame and the stigma associated with participation in social safety net programs can sometimes actually be an inhibitor to participation in those programs,” Clancy told the Deseret News.
Schools would be allowed to speak only to parents regarding a child’s free school lunch participation.
Clancy added that HB100 encourages schools to reduce food waste by prioritizing and expanding school lunch time — allowing children sufficient time “to eat before recess.”
Schools would also be encouraged to implement “share tables” where unopened or sealed foods can be shared, instead of simply tossing it in the trash.
“Share tables”, he added, have been a success at pilot program schools. “So if you take an entire tray of lunch, but you don’t want, say, the apple, or a pre-wrapped snack — instead of throwing it away … you can (add it to the share table).”
Thumbs-up for HB100
Clancy’s school lunch bill enjoyed broad support during Monday’s public comment period.
Lifelong Utah resident Sandy Snowden said she has known the uncertainty of food security during volatile economic times.
“I have also witnessed, firsthand, how we continue to struggle to support our most vulnerable,” she said. “Through no fault of their own, many of our children need our help. Ensuring food security for kids should be an easy: ‘Yes.’”
“As a mother of five, I know the fear of not knowing how we would feed my kids.”
Neil Rickard from Utahns Against Hunger said initiatives such as HB100 can prevent families who are experiencing “hard times” from slipping into “genuine crisis.”
“These programs are especially important at a time when pantries around the state are under strain and forced to cut programs or hours — and other resources simply aren’t available for kids in this bracket.”
