Students getting their l lunch at a primary school.
I’m once again pleading with Ohio lawmakers to please feed the children. For all that is good and decent, could we please ensure that school children do not go hungry?
Pleading with the state government to ensure that Ohio schoolchildren do not spend their days hungry, tired, irritable, distracted, unable to concentrate, and unable to learn has long been an obscene and perplexing request for too many Ohio lawmakers.
They keep declining to do so.
But, as my friend Alexander Pope says, hope springs eternal in the human breast.
So I’ll keep calling because I believe that schoolchildren should not go hungry.
They should be fed. All of them. Whatever meals they require.
Student hunger is widespread in Ohio.
With more than 1.6 million public school students, approximately 57% meet the qualifications and participate in free and reduced lunch programs.
According to Feeding America, one out of every five Ohio children lives in food-insecure households. In some counties, such as Cuyahoga, Adams, and Scioto, it is one in four.
Here’s the rub: According to a 2023 report from Children’s Defense Fund Ohio, one-third of the children who live in food-insecure homes do not qualify for free school meals because their households are technically above the 185% poverty line.
Many others choose not to participate for fear of being judged.
This means that hundreds of thousands of Ohio schoolchildren go hungry during the school day due to a lack of coverage or a fear of social stigma.
Republicans in the United States Congress are currently considering cuts to national school meal programs, which would affect 280,000 Ohio children.
But in Ohio, a new bipartisan bill, Ohio Senate Bill 109, would ensure that no Ohio K-12 student goes hungry during the day. State Sen. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Township, and state Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, have introduced legislation that would provide free breakfast and lunch to public and chartered nonpublic school students.
During the 2023 Ohio budget season, a proposal for universal school meals was made but not passed.
According to the proposal for this cycle, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce would be directed to reimburse public and chartered nonpublic schools that participate in the national school breakfast and lunch programs by covering the difference between federal reimbursements for free and reduced-price breakfasts and lunches and those who would be required to pay because they do not qualify for meal assistance.
The bill makes an appropriation of $300 million to support state reimbursements. The state operating budget is projected to be $108 billion in fiscal year 2026 and $110 billion in fiscal year 2027.
Blessing and Smith intend to push for inclusion of the bill in the Ohio House’s two-year budget, which is currently being negotiated.
This past Tuesday, a group of high school students from across Ohio gathered at the Statehouse to advocate for it.
Every teacher I’ve ever spoken with about it has said the same thing: hunger is a huge barrier to learning. Meanwhile, children are placed in social situations in which they must choose between going hungry or facing the judgment of their peers.
As we all know, the fear of social stigma and judgment is extremely high during childhood and adolescence.
We have a simple and effective solution: eliminate the stigma, the fear of judgment, and the school meal caste system, and simply feed the children, all of the children.
If the basic humanity and decency of it aren’t convincing enough, I can make an economic case.
Well-fed children are more attentive and engaged as students. Students who are attentive and engaged achieve better academic success. The most successful students become successful citizens. Successful citizens boost the economy.
So feed the children. All of the children are the same.
Please feed the children.
