School nutrition officials overwhelmingly agree that USDA waivers reduced child hunger during the pandemic by making meals free to all students, said a report by the anti-hunger group Food Research and Action Center on Tuesday. FRAC said Congress ought to pass legislation for universal free school meals or extend the USDA waivers, due to expire on June 30, through the 2022-23 school year.
In a FRAC survey of large school districts, each with at least 8,000 students, 59 of the 62 responding districts said the free meals reduced child hunger. Most said the nationwide waivers eased the paperwork in running a school nutrition program. All 62 districts utilized the waivers at the start of this school year.
Nine out of 10 districts said rising food prices were a challenge. An even larger proportion said labor shortages and supply chain disruptions were headaches. The School Nutrition Association, which speaks for food directors, has reported similar problems and says the waivers, which include a higher reimbursement rate per meal than usual, help schools pay the bills for running a food program during a national health emergency.
With Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell as a leading opponent, lawmakers passed a government funding bill in March that will allow the USDA waivers to expire, despite attempts by activists and school nutrition groups to make the waivers available in the new school year. A one-year extension was estimated to cost $11 billion.
“School breakfast and lunch are proven tools for fueling children’s health and learning,” said Luis Guardia, FRAC president. “Waivers made things much easier for families and school administrators during the school year, reducing stigma around meals, alleviating stress due to labor and supply shortages, and easing schools’ administrative burdens.”
Meanwhile, the White House said the first-ever nationwide Summer EBT program reduced hunger by helping low-income families buy food for their children while school was out of session last summer. More than 30 million children were aided, it said, adding that summer EBT “was critical to ensuring an equitable response to food insecurity.”
And the think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities urged states to address child hunger this year by setting up a Pandemic EBT program for the summer. “If all states participate, the program could provide over $13 billion in fully federally funded benefits to more than 36 million children nationwide,” it said. “By participating in summer P-EBT, states can provide resources to families to make up for the meals their children usually eat in school during the school year.”
The FRAC report is available here.