Each year in September, millions of families across the nation get their children ready for school. From the fall until the first week of June, there are about 10 months in the average school calendar. While students worry about classroom work, some parents additionally have their own worries— paying for their student’s lunch.
According to the Hunter College New York City Food Policy Center there are only 15 states in the country that do not have a policy or initiative for a free lunch program. Connecticut has a version of the program that keeps them running until 2025. That leaves 35 states with some form of a plan to make sure students receive the food they need.
Jonathan Pelto is no stranger to education legislation. He served in the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1985-93 and served on the education and appropriations committee. Pelto also was chair of the Appropriations Committee on Higher Education during his tenure. Now, he is an adjunct professor of American government at Quinnipiac University and the University of Florida.
This isn’t the first time that the state has adopted a form of free lunch incentives.
“We had a number of federally funded programs and they were easy to support because they didn’t really cost Connecticut taxpayers anything,” Pelto said.
As per the Food Action & Research Center, the programs costed taxpayers very little when it came time to paying their bills. Residents’ taxes fluctuated based on a 10-cent reimbursement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were going through a remote and hybrid period, there were students that were at home, but didn’t have the necessary resources to eat. Currently, the district has “just over 5,700 students,” according to the district’s website. The Keefe Community Center in Hamden partnered with the school district to help feed children.
“Well before COVID, we were involved in the free breakfast and lunch summer program,” said AnneMarie Karavas, the Hamden program specialist for community services. “So, when COVID hit and the kids weren’t going to school to get their free lunches, the program decided to open up during COVID.”
The former summer lunch programs were originally handled through The Keefe Center and costed them nothing.
“Meals were delivered every morning. We gave out to whoever came,” Karavas said.
Now, starting during the summer of 2023, those food services were handled by Whitson’s Culinary Group, the food supplier for the Hamden School District. This was part of the 136 million meals the USDA handed out.
“We handle the operations for Hamden’s Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) as well. There were eight locations that served breakfast and lunch this summer,” said Lyana Earley, general manager at Whitson’s Culinary Group. “All of these locations served students that were enrolled in the summer programs there. Shepherd Glen Elementary and Hamden High School were our two ‘open sites.’ This means they were open to serve meals to the public, as well as the students enrolled in the summer programs there.”
During the eight months the Keefe Center was involved, Karavas explained that families could drive up and pick up their meal. All the meals were provided through the government-issued program.
During the COVID days, the Keefe Center saw between 60 and 75 students a day explained Karavas. During the school year, there are on average 28 days. Multiply that with the average number of students (67.5) and the Keefe Center was providing about 1,890 meals during the school year.
But now, in a post-COVID-19 era, the original $350 billion that was allocated to state, local and Tribal governments across the country as part of the American Rescue Plan is starting to dry up. Taxpayers in Connecticut are now seeing the money that gave them some relief start to dry up thus introducing a different issue. As of February 2023, the state extended the program for $60 million per End Hunger CT.
“It was during COVID that every single school provided free breakfast and lunch,” said Melissa Kaplan, chair of the Hamden Board of Education. “It wasn’t until this past year that all of a sudden, federal and state funding from COVID are starting to dry up and so this is the first year that we have three schools now paying for breakfast and lunch.”
Unlike the Keefe Center, the school district still serves students during the school day. On a regular day of school, they offer a free breakfast and lunch program. For higher education like high school, a regular day starts at 7 a.m. and ends at 1:49 p.m. All the elementary schools start at 8:35 a.m. and end at 3:34 p.m. and the middle school ends at 8:00 a.m. until 2:34 p.m.
“On average, we serve about 1800 students at breakfast and 3300 students at lunch,” said Earley, who oversees all different aspects of the food that is being distributed to the children through the free lunch programs.
“As the general manager for Hamden Public Schools Food Services, I create menus, monitor our daily meal participation, monitor our financial goals, ensure quality of food and food safety, and manage our employees.”
According to the district’s website, there are three schools that do not offer a free lunch program: Bear Path Elementary, Spring Glen Elementary and West Woods Elementary.
Those three schools are considered Title I schools, which means there is less of a need in those communities for free lunch incentives. But families can still submit an application for their child to receive those needs.
“For anyone that does qualify within those three schools they can also submit applications for free and reduced lunch,” Kaplan said. “There’s a lot of forms that that need to be filled out and then also, we recognize that is also a significant barrier.”
In the Hamden School District, there are 12 total schools. Nine are elementary schools, one is a middle school and one is a high school. Additionally, there are two alternate learning schools that make up the district. The federal government allocates funds to the state, which then passes it down to the district based on the district’s needs at that specific time.
“The federal government sets up a program, state government either must implement it, depending on how the program is set up,” said Pelto. “If it’s mandatory or if it’s voluntary, the state then either has to, or decides to, set up the program. It then delegates the authority to carry out the program to the local board of education.”
Some of the ways that families can be aware of if their child is eligible for the program is through outreach. At the start of every school year, children will be sent home with information about the programs.
“Things will be disseminated through email and various other apps that we have throughout the school district, letting people know that these services are available,” Kaplan said. “We also have a number of people employed at the schools, who are also available to help people fill out the forms as well. So, we have the forms in almost every single language, because we know that we have a lot of people who don’t speak fluently English in our in our district.”
In addition, Keefe Center officials say they see a more diverse part of the community with ties to the district walking through their doors. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in Hamden alone, the black and Spanish population make up roughly 38.4%. According to the same sight, Hamden’s poverty rate is 9.1%, slightly below the Connecticut average of 10.3%.
“Well, the food programs for 18 and under only, but the family style, I would say, is a lot of single mothers, a lot of the Black population and the Spanish population,” Karavas said.
The forms are all done anonymously as to not identify the students or parents in the district. This was put in place by Connecticut Senate Bill SB2 Lunch Shaming and Unpaid Meal Charges in 2021.
“We carry over a lot of debt from our unpaid lunches, but those prices are never incurred upon the students, so that’s something that the district will always absorb,” Kaplan said.
If the town did shame a student and/or family by either making them pay and or sending home a bill, it would be up to the state and attorney general to bring forth a lawsuit.
“These districts must follow the state law because they’re underneath the state,” Pelto said. “It would be the state suing the town to make them follow… It normally wouldn’t get that far.”
Not everything passes through the federal or state level to ensure students receive the nutrients they need. There are times when teachers make sure that students don’t go hungry.
“I know a lot of our teachers will also, sometimes, just because they’re just so kind and compassionate, will keep extra snacks available in the classroom for children that are hungry,” Kaplan said. “I know a lot of PTA funds will also help to do that as well. So, for example, in the elementary school, when there’s snack time and children do not have snacks, our PTAs, our teachers, and part of the money that we allocate to our schools also will go towards providing children with snacks too.”
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont passed an expansion of the free lunch bill in August 2023 to keep it in place until the summer of 2025.
“This investment ensures that each student begins their day with a nourishing meal, fostering learning and growth,” Lamont said in a statement reported by NBC Connecticut on Aug. 7, 2023.
Since Connecticut renewed the free lunch programs for the 2024-25 school year, the federal government would have to wait until the 2025-26 fiscal year if Congress chose to eliminate these programs.
“You would have to get Congress to zero out the school lunch program,” Pelto said. “Otherwise, (President-elect Donald Trump) has to follow the law and transfer that money to the states.”
Regardless of what happens, Kaplan vowed that Hamden’s children will have food to eat no matter what.
“If a child is hungry, they will be fed,” she said.