The Alaska legislature is considering a bill for the Maxine Dibert representative, D-Fairbanks, which would finance free breakfast and lunch for all students in public schools. The employees of the Juneau Student Nutrition Service said that this would keep students fed and would withdraw the financial burden from the districts through the State. But legislators want more information on the cost.
The State Department of Education and Early Development, or Deed, estimates that the price of the bill reaches $ 28.7 million.
Despite the costs, Clarissa Hayes, supporters of the Food Research and Action Center, told legislators to provide meals to all students in public testimony on Monday.
“We know that hungry children do not have the concentration and energy they need to prosper in school,” she said. “Studies have shown that participation in school meals improves students attendance, behavior and academic success, and also reduces absenteeism and delay.”
The members of the Chamber’s Education Committee burned Deed’s staff on the exact cost of carrying out the program and found that a lot of information was missing. To start, Heather Heineken, Director of Finance and Support of Deed, said that the cost estimate did not include the cost of carrying out the program for schools which do not already participate in the national school lunch and school breakfast program. She told the committee that about nine districts are not currently in the programs.
Glennullen republican representative Rebecca Schwanke said that she wanted to see which other programs are already in place that could help reduce state costs.
“I would certainly like to have a follow -up consideration, really, in all the possible ways that we can really strengthen the good things that happen in the neighborhoods, especially when it comes to making food for children who really need it, and not to create a free program that is too wide, which sets up on the state to provide food which is necessarily necessary,” said Schwanke.
Seitz said the problem was twofold. Some families are not eligible for free and reduced but have trouble paying for meals. And federal reimbursements are not sufficient to cover the total cost of meals for the Juneau school district. She said that 77 families in the district have seen their requests for free lunch and reduced to date this school day.
Seitz said the program would feed many of these students.
“If this bill should pass, it would be a significant relief,” she said. “For districts and students through the state.”
Love Ann Truitt is an administrative assistant for the nutrition program of the Juneau school district and replaces schools that need food services. She told Ktoo that some of these families simply do not meet the requirements set by the federal government.
“Unfortunately, we have to refuse many people who apply. It is not for us, but they do not reach the income limit, and it is so close, “she said.
The regular lunch price is $ 5.50 and the district is reimbursed for only 69 cents. But each lunch costs $ 7.44. This means that it also costs more to the district than a dollar for each lunch it serves students who pay the high price.
Truitt said many students accumulate negative sales with schools for lunch. She said there were about $ 12,000 in debt of school meals for the district this year, and it costs money in the district.
“I know that several schools have reimbursed the debts of the gifts, but at this stage, at the moment, the school district has the children, whether they can pay or not,” she said. “
The Committee held the bill so that legislators can obtain more information.
Fixed: a previous version of this story has misused a quote from Love Ann Truitt to Elizabeth Seitz.