Universal School Meals
On May 30, Governor Phil Scott signed S. 100 (now Act 151) to make school meals (breakfast and lunch) available to all students for free for another year.
School meals had previously been a focus for groups working on nutrition and food security. This work was accelerated when waivers granted during COVID-19 response provided the start of an experiment in what universal free school meals could look like, and cost, in Vermont. Act 151 provides another year to explore the program’s impacts and costs.
A campaign led by Hunger Free Vermont promoted this legislation to ensure that every Vermont student would be able to eat breakfast and lunch at school with no additional charge to their families.
The campaign website provides additional details. It includes background on the federal school meal waivers during COVID-19 that provided for temporary universal meals, but are expected to expire June 30, and on the logistics of how a permanent change for Vermont will work.
This effort fits in with other statewide work on the link between food, health, and school for children. In an earlier podcast episode we featured the Farm to School movement, Healthy Roots, and Dinner Together. We've also profiled Help Me Grow, which assists in food access for families with children.
The Universal School Meals coalition highlighted these broader connections in their statement on the bill’s passage into law:
Combined with legislation passed in this biennium to increase the use of local food in schools and expand Farm to School, Vermont students will have access to Farm Fresh School Meals everyday. Taken together, these programs help to increase participation in school meal programs, support school nutrition programs in buying more local food, connect kids to where their food comes from, and support the local agriculture economy. It’s a win all around!
In another point of connection, the VT FAHC is currently working with Hunger Free Vermont, and the Vermont Foodbank, on developing new materials to support health care practices in connecting patients with 3SquaresVT / SNAP. Resources are featured in our Outreach Systems page. This outreach work indirectly supports the Universal School Meals efforts, as SNAP enrollment data is part of the calculations in federal funding for school meals. Leveraging federal systems in this way is a key goal for Hunger Free Vermont.
As Vermont Business Magazine reports, the focus of this next year’s work will be data collection to understand the true cost of the program. Katy Davis recently spoke to Hunger Free Vermont’s work on community level data collection and translating that information to policy proposals on a special series of the Policy in Plainer English podcast exploring the Hunger Vital Sign.