HARTFORD, CT – As food insecurity grows across the state, a coalition of advocates and legislators are calling on the General Assembly to provide funding to continue free meal programs in Connecticut’s schools.
End Hunger Connecticut!, a nonprofit organization that supports free meals for all students through its School Meals 4 All CT campaign, held a news conference Tuesday at the state Capitol to ask legislators to support free breakfast for all, and covering the share of families who qualify for free or reduced price lunch.
The news conference included a sampling of the breakfast choices that advocates say can be provided with the funding. The spread included yogurt parfait, smoothies, and home-made muffins.
A bill before the appropriations committee would allocate enough funding to support continued free breakfast for all Connecticut students. The School Meals 4 All coalition seeks to expand the bill to provide funding for students receiving reduced-price lunch, and eventually, free meals for all students.
During the pandemic, Connecticut received federal dollars that allowed it to cover the cost of meals for all students. Even though schools were closed during quarantine, they provided meals to students who depended on them for healthy food during the crisis. Federal funds lapsed in 2022-23, but the state legislature added enough money to last year’s budget to continue providing free breakfast and cost-sharing for reduced-cost lunch qualifiers
“Our members know that providing students with school meals is a proven strategy to reduce food insecurity, support learning, improve mental and physical health, and bolster educational and economic equity,” said Kristina Roberge, president of the School Nutrition Association of CT and a member of the School Meals 4 ALL CT cohort. “We fully support the continuation to allow breakfast meals at no cost to all students, and lunch at no cost to reduced price students.”
Steven LePage, Superintendent of Regional School District 7, shared that he grew up receiving free lunch as part of a low-income family.
“As a superintendent, I want to compliment the legislature on the changes made for this year with the free breakfast for all and free lunch for those who qualify for reduced price lunch,” he said “I’ve seen a 60% increase in students accessing meals from our reduced price group for breakfast and lunch, which is tremendous. That’s a significant number of students getting meals who wouldn’t have had them in the past.”
Eighth-grader Ava DaPonte, of Plymouth, talked about the benefits of free breakfast and how it helped set students up for success.
“I really enjoy getting my breakfast and being able to see all my friends and talk about our class schedules, our upcoming tests, anything like that,” she said. “Please support the students in our amazing state who are learning to be the future. Without healthy and nutritious meals that the school provides, we cannot grow to become future leaders.”
Currently, in order to qualify for reduced price lunch, a family of four cannot exceed an annual income of $55,500. However, many policy experts point to the United Way’s ALICE number- Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed as a more accurate estimation of the costs of living in the state. According to ALICE, the survival budget for a family of four in the state is $126,000. That leaves a gap of nearly $70,000 where families make too much to qualify for free or reduced lunch, but not enough to pay their own way without significant financial stress.
“Food insecurity exists in all communities, whether they’re wealthy or not,” said Rep. Rachel Khanna, D-Greenwich. “In Greenwich, 26% of families are at the ALICE threshold or below, and 18% qualify for the reduced meal cost program. That’s over 1200 children.”
Food insecurity has spiked in Connecticut in recent years. According to a survey conducted by DataHaven, the rate of food insecurity in the state nearly doubled from 10% in 2021 to 17% in 2022. That was a much larger jump than the national increase, which grew from 10.2% in 2021 to 12.8% in 2022.
Rep. Gary Turco, D-Newington, also spoke on the importance of providing free meals to children.
“We really can’t go backwards this year. We went from universal school meal funding, now reduced to just breakfast, and free lunch for students who qualify, and we can’t go even further backwards from there. If our kids go to school hungry, then they can’t learn. We’re wasting education dollars,” he said “You’re going to hear alot of talk this session about the fiscal guardrails. Let me just say I will vote tomorrow to give more flexibility and amend the fiscal guardrails to feed Connecticut’s children.”
