For many Ohio children, school meals are a key component of their nutrition. While studies show that free breakfasts and lunches contribute to overall community health, the lapse of pandemic free meal programs threatens to allow many Ohio children to fall through the cracks.
The Ohio Capital Journal reports that research from the Food Research & Action Center showed the lapse in pandemic-era waivers for the cost of school meals had a negative impact on participation in meal programs across the country. In Ohio, average breakfast participation dropped 22.2% between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, and lunch dropped by 14%, according to data included in the FRAC report.
In an effort to bridge the gap, the Ohio FY24-FY25 biennial budget includes funding to cover the cost of providing no-cost breakfast and no-cost lunch to students qualifying for reduced-price meals. Starting in school year 2023-2024, the budget language requires public and chartered nonpublic schools that participate in the National School Breakfast or Lunch Program to provide a breakfast and lunch at no cost to each student eligible for a reduced-price breakfast or lunch.
Small Step is Not Enough
However, advocates argue that the changes do not go far enough. They believe that universal free lunch and breakfast are necessary to ensure Ohio’s children have access to important nutrition.
“It’s a small positive step,” said Will Petrik, project director for the Ohio think tank Policy Matters. “Legislators should go further: They should use our collective resources to improve our collective future by ensuring every child in Ohio has at least one healthy school meal every day.”
Ohio residents also believe in the value of free school meals. A 2022 survey conducted by the Children’s Defense Fund of Ohio and Baldwin Wallace University’s Community Research Institute found that 87% support no-cost meals for all students, without regard to household income.
For now, though, current Ohio policy leaves many children without access to meals and subject to school lunch debt, which forces school districts to deny students the hot lunch for the day if they can’t pay off the debt, leading to alternative cold lunch options, or the embarrassment keeping the child from coming to the cafeteria at all.