05.24.16

By: Houston Chronicle Editorial Board
Source: Houston Chronicle

Feed the Children

A bill that would make it harder for schools to feed needy students is counterproductive.

"Hunger Games" is the title of a dystopian novel for young adults and a popular movie series. It's also what Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, the top Democrat on the House Education and Workforce Committee, dubbed a bill on child nutrition.

It's an apt name, as the bill - which just passed out of congressional committee last week - would make it harder for schools to feed needy students. The bill would leave thousands of students hungry and eating less nutritious meals.

Hungry, desperate children belong in the realm of science fiction, not in our schools. Our representatives should commit the necessary federal investment to combat child hunger and join with groups such as the Houston Food Bank, the American Heart Association, the National Association of School Nurses and the Pew Charitable Trusts, to oppose this bill.

Right now, the community eligibility option for a federal school lunch and breakfast program is an example of government at its best. The option gives schools a way to better provide for students from disadvantaged backgrounds while simultaneously reducing paperwork, staff time and red tape. It allows schools to deliver free meals to the children who need them with minimal stigma to the child.

Rather than have students apply individually for free meals, the option now in use allows schools with at least 40 percent of students who are homeless or enrolled in other programs such as Head Start or SNAP to qualify to serve meals free of charge to all students. The Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016, as it's cynically titled, would raise that requirement to 60 percent.

By raising the school eligibility requirements for free meals, the bill would affect more than 7,000 schools educating 3.4 million children, according to the nonprofit National Center for Children in Poverty. In Texas alone, about 800 schools would be ineligible to provide school breakfast and lunch to all their students at no charge. Many of the students who will lose out are children of the working poor, whose families are ineligible for other federal nutrition programs, according to the Houston Food Bank.

Some children at these ineligible schools, particularly the homeless, migrants or those with limited English proficiency, would fall through the cracks and lose access to school meals even though they are eligible. On the other hand, think of the administrative nightmare that a burst of individual re-enrollments would cause.

Proponents argue that taxpayers do not need to pay for wealthy children to eat. This argument demonstrates how disconnected they are from the reality of public schools. Rarely do wealthy children attend public schools, where 40 percent of the children are receiving social services. They argue that parents should feed their own kids. The problem is that not all parents can or will, leaving kids to suffer.

This bill could be devastating for some of the 25 percent of Texas children who live in poverty and for Houston Independent School District's students - 75 percent of whom are disadvantaged - and many of whom rely on their schools to provide them with free lunch and breakfast. Studies have shown that children who reside in food-insecure homes are at higher risk of heart disease and diabetes. Food-insecure households are also linked to negative academic outcomes as well as behavioral and social problems. Then, there's just the basic fact that children who face food insecurity have more trouble learning than their counterparts.

In addition to being morally wrong, the proposed changes will be costly to the taxpayer in the long run. It's a vicious cycle. Kids who get behind in school need extra school resources, or they are more likely to drop out. Dropouts are more likely to commit crimes than individuals with a diploma. Incarcerating an individual is much more costly to society than funding some free school meals.

There's only one Texas member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, retiring U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa, D-Mercedes. But the influential Texas congressional delegation will have an opportunity to weigh in on the House floor. Our representatives should lead Congress in looking toward the future and voting down this short-sighted bill.