Many American families struggle to pay for school meals and feeding children during the summer months is often especially hard. School meal programs offer a solution, but paying for them could require a fresh look at the way American public education is funded.
Schools' heavy reliance on local property tax revenues for their funding means that schools may get as much as $25,273 or as little as $8,287 (PDF) per pupil. The amount of funding that a school receives matters for children's educational outcomes. C. Kirabo Jackson reviewed (PDF) a wide variety of studies that investigated how increased school funding can boost student achievement. Overall, the evidence is compelling. Increased school spending led to students' higher test scores and completion of more years of education. For example, a one-time $1000 increase in per-pupil annual spending sustained for 10 years increased test scores by between 0.12 and 0.24 standard deviations.
Increased school spending led to students' higher test scores and completion of more years of education.
Equitable school funding also matters for children's health behaviors and outcomes. Children spend more time at school than any place besides home and children can consume between 19 percent and 50 percent of their daily calories while at school. Thus, schools are key settings for obesity prevention efforts as obesity continues to burden children, and schools need adequate resources to support students' healthy diets and regular exercise. Congress passed the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) to reduce childhood obesity by increasing school meals' nutritional requirements. Growing evidence suggests that since its implementation in 2012, HHFKA improved children's dietary quality and body mass growth.
But it can be difficult for schools to fund school meal programs, in part due to rising costs. During the pandemic, school meals were temporarily free for all students. However, as pandemic-era funding expired, states began to step in to expand access to free school meals.
Eight states have implemented Healthy School Meals for All policies. Yet, 18 states have not introduced bills about healthy meals for all students and some states have introduced legislation about universal meals for all students that failed to pass. Additionally, school meal policies vary across states with respect to the Community Eligibility Provision, which some states use to increase access to free school meals.
Because the school meal policy landscape is so varied across states, under-resourced school districts and schools often struggle to implement meal programs. Consequently, not all students receive equitable access to nutritious school meals.
Because the school meal policy landscape is so varied across states, under-resourced school districts and schools often struggle to implement meal programs.
New school funding sources could help level the playing field. Sugar sweetened beverage taxes have been implemented in several localities and revenue ranges from $1 million in Berkeley to $75 million in Philadelphia. Similarly, adult-use cannabis taxes are now widespread and bring in hundreds of millions of dollars annually to states. These tax sources could and do support schools, as in Nevada where in 2022 the state directed $147 million to the state's K–12 education budget.
Additional financial supports could help schools bring back universal school meal programs and implement summer EBT programs which help families afford groceries during the summer months. Currently, many families are missing out on the summer EBT program and increasing funding could help provide more students with nutritious meals.
Finding new ways to fund school nutrition programs could help ensure that no child goes hungry and that every student has the opportunity to thrive, both in and out of the classroom.
