Dear Readers, A while back, Melinda wrote asking our opinion of accepting free school lunches if you qualify. You can read our initial response here. Since then, we received these reader comments on the same subject and we thought you might find it interesting. Tawra
Hi Tawra,
I just read Melinda's question regarding school lunches. Having been on both sides of being able to afford and it being a real pinch, AND having worked in the public schools this past year, I would like to offer an additional perspective.
First of all, school lunches are not funded by the Department of Education or local school taxes. They are a program of the USDA to help farmers with using up the surplus. I don't know all the specific ins and outs, but at least some of the foods are surplus that the government has ALREADY purchased and needs to distribute. That said, the local, state and federal layers of the education system DO look at the numbers of students receiving free and reduced price lunch when determining where extra money will be spent. That is the only legal way of determining average income of a school/neighborhood or district. So, if a family decides to not sign up, that ultimately does cut the dollars being sent to that school.
Also, for those who decide they will take their reduced or free lunch some of the time and bring lunch from home most of the time, that is great but be aware that if your school uses a debit account, the juice/milk and/or dessert that children often buy when bringing a bag lunch from home, actually will reduce your debit account more than just buying a whole reduced price lunch. Sounds stupid, but it's true. At our elementary, reduced price lunch was 40 cents, milk plus dessert was, I believe, 65 cents.
I would suggest if you are truly feeling guilty about "taking" the lunch program, then make a donation of cash or food to a local food bank or use the extra cash to help out a friend.
Much of the same goes for the state Children's Health Insurance. The numbers are used to make estimates of how many children are low income and thus be able to use the figures to appeal to state and federal levels for additional funding. Yes, it all ultimately comes out of our pockets but at least think about making sure some of it gets diverted to your neighborhood. :)
-Christy
Hi Tawra,
I would like to reassure Melinda to please use the free meals at school. This is a Federal program not welfare. I raised 3 children on this program and it is a lifesaver. If enough people do not use the program that do qualify for it ,it could be discontinued, and the people that need it will not have it. Please do not feel bad or guilty about using these programs.
-Lisa from Gloucester Point, Virginia
Tawra, the federal government uses the number of students enrolled in the free/reduced lunch program to apportion other federal funds to schools for programs.
For example: If you have 2 schools with the same number of students and the same number of children eligible for free lunches, but at school A 50 children enroll and at school B 100 children enroll, then School B is going to get a lot more federal dollars for programs like Head Start than school A. The number of children enrolled in the free lunch program is used as a proxy in the funding formulas for several federal programs.
-Maria from Washington, DC
In response to the free school lunch question... I am a teacher and we wish more parents would take the free/reduced lunch. First, the school receives a lot of money for each child on the program. Second, there isn't a chance of the child being embarrassed. As a teacher I don't even know who the kids are in my class who are on the program.
Lastly, this also helps with your school's end of the year test scores. In Missouri, we have the MAP. The school not only receives a score, but there are sub categories in the schools. One is free/reduced lunch. Not to sound cruel, but the more kids who score better on the test on the free/reduced lunch program the better the score is for that sub category. If one category fails the entire school is considered a failed school.
-Lisa from Gloucester Point, Virginia
