Participation in the school lunch program nosedived 28 percent during the first months of the pandemic despite breakneck efforts across the nation to provide an alternative to meals in the cafeteria, said USDA data. An anti-hunger group said extension of the so-called P-EBT program and an increase in SNAP benefits were needed to treat “this child hunger crisis.”
“School districts generally aren’t to blame for this gap; the fact is that there is no easy, affordable way to feed kids when schools are no longer open,” said Joel Berg, chief executive of Hunger Free America. “Given that many schools will likely stay physically closed this fall, this child hunger crisis — left unaddressed — will further worsen.”
An average 21.4 million students received school lunch daily during April, compared to 29.6 million in February, before stay-at-home orders prompted schools to close, according to preliminary USDA data. Participation in school breakfast, offered in fewer schools, dropped 12 percent during the same period, to an average of 13.1 million children a day.
For the most part, school districts shifted to grab-and-go meals, served at walk-up and drive-through sites, according to a survey by the School Nutrition Association, which speaks for school food directors. Some delivered meals directly to student homes or utilized school bus routes to hand out meals. Eighty percent of the 1,894 districts taking part in the SNA survey said they served fewer meals with the end of classroom instruction; 59 percent said they were serving half as many meals, or fewer.
Early this month, the SNA asked for waivers for the coming school year so districts could serve breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge, whether food is served in classrooms, cafeterias or curbside pickup lanes. The USDA has issued some waivers to food rules for the new school year but has not responded to the SNA’s July 10 request.
At the same time that lunch participation dropped, SNAP enrollment soared and indicators of food insecurity in the nation doubled. The Hamilton Project, a Brookings Institution initiative, estimated that one in five children, around 13.9 million in all, suffered from food insecurity during the pandemic.
P-EBT, short for Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer, was created early this year in response to the coronavirus with the goal of helping low-income parents buy food to offset the loss of free school meals for their children. Every state except Idaho is approved for P-EBT, with Nevada the most recent state cleared to operate, said the USDA on July 10.
Dozens of anti-hunger, medical, religious, labor and consumer groups have backed a temporary 15-percent increase in SNAP benefits. In a June letter to Senate leaders, the groups said, “For every one meal provided through the Feeding America food bank network, SNAP can provide nine meals on the normal rails of commerce.”