This article was originally published in Ohio Capital Journal.
Two-thirds of Ohioans support a universal free school breakfast and lunch program for all public school children, according to a Republican pollster.
“This is extremely rare at a time when voters are really reluctant to support further spending at both the state and federal level,” Alexi Donovan, vice president of Tarrance Group Polling, said Monday at the Ohio Legislative Children’s monthly meeting Caucus.
This month’s meeting heard testimony on the importance of universal school meals, and Tarrance Group Polling surveyed 600 Ohio voters on the topic in May.
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“It is clear from the research and data in recent years that universal school meals help students thrive physically, mentally, socially and educationally,” said John Stanford, director of the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio.
In Ohio, 1 in 6 children, or approximately 413,000 children, live in a household that is hungry. Despite this, more than 1 in 3 children living in food-insecure households do not qualify for school meals, according to a 2023 report from Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio.
“We believe that in a country as prosperous as we are, we should not have hungry children,” said Lisa Quigley, director of Solving Hunger.
Introducing students to different fruits and vegetables through school meals gives them a taste of “food that is much more nutritious than what many of them bring to school,” she said.
“What we’re seeing in the schools that are offering universal school meals is that the food is getting better,” Quigley said.
National security
Child hunger is a national security issue, said Cynthia Rees, director of the Council for a Strong America in Ohio.
The U.S. Department of Defense conducted a study in 2020 that found that 77% of youth between the ages of 17 and 24 are ineligible for military service without a waiver. The most common disqualification rate was 11% for being overweight, above drug and alcohol abuse (8%) and medical/physical health (7%).
“It is critical to recognize that overweight and obesity can often be manifestations of malnutrition, food insecurity or the lack of access to affordable healthy food, which often results in consuming cheaper and more accessible foods, which often lack nutritional value,” said Rees.
The food insecurity rate for Ohio children is 15%, with some counties as high as 24%, Rees said.
“Increasing children’s access to fresh and nutritious food now, including through free school meals for all students, could help America recover from today’s challenges and strengthen national security for the future,” she said. “The military has long had an interest in the health and nutrition of our nation’s youth.”
Universal school meals would remove the stigma of categorizing students who receive free and reduced-price meals and those who do not, Rees said.
“Instead, all students can just eat together,” she says. “If we make school meals accessible to everyone, we remove that stigma.”
Ohio law
Thanks to last year’s budget bill, any student who qualified for free or reduced-price school breakfast would receive those meals for free during the 2023-2024 school year.
Currently, children in Ohio qualify for free or reduced-price school meals if their family income is 185% of the federal poverty level, which is $57,720 for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
State Reps. Darnell Brewer, D-Cleveland, and Ismail Mohamed, D-Columbus, introduced a bill earlier this year that would require public schools to provide a meal to any student who requests one.
House Bill 408 would also prohibit a district from throwing away a meal after it has been served “due to a student’s inability to pay for the meal or because money is owed for previously provided meals.” There has so far only been testimony from sponsors in the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee.
Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Ohio Capital Journal maintains editorial independence. If you have any questions, please contact editor David Dewitt: info@ohiocapitaljournal.com. Follow Ohio Capital Journal on Facebook and X.
