What WA families need to know now that federal universal free lunch is gone

Congress has opted not to continue a pandemic-era program to provide free school lunches to all students, regardless of their families' economic status.

The program ensured children were fed during the last two school years, whether kids showed up in person to eat or had parents pick up meals while classes were remote.

Without it, families and administrators are back to navigating a patchwork of programs across the country and Washington state.

That's a step backward for parents like Jeff Lew in the Seattle area.

For him, the program meant he didn't have to worry about whether his kids would be fed. Whatever troubles the pandemic brought to his door, he had that much to rely on.

"Every student going to school got a meal," he said. "Even those who were doing remote learning, there were meal pickups at designated school sites where families could go pick up [lunch]. Some districts, like our local district here in Seattle, even had deliveries to families. It was awesome to see that people were getting fed, and families didn't have to worry about any costs."

Before the federal universal free lunch program, families could apply for free or reduced-price lunch, depending on their economic status.

Washington schools may continue the universal free lunch program this school year if they qualify for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Eligibility Provision. The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, or OSPI, estimates about 1,200 schools will qualify, meaning nearly half of students in the state will be attending a school where universal free lunch is still available.

But that doesn't apply to all Washington students — many will once again have to apply for free lunch.

NPR politics reporter Ximena Bustillo said that whether parents have to apply for the program will vary from district to district, even school to school. And that's causing confusion across the country.

"Parents who have kids in the second or third grade may not have ever needed to think about this before," she explained. "Their lunches have been free the entire time that their kids have been in school. So, it's a completely new learning process for that subset of students."

The applications introduce other obstacles, too.

They may pose a language barrier for non-English-speaking parents or children of immigrants who are still learning how to navigate the Washington schools system.

There's also the stigma that may come with be a free-lunch kid.

Parent Jeff Lew has seen that for himself; it's why he became a universal-free-lunch advocate and started the Lunch Debt group to spread the word.

The father of three wants to eliminate "lunch shaming," a goal he said was accomplished, at least in part, through the federal lunch program.

"I don't think those kids had to worry about the last two years. They could just go to school, focus and eat, focus on studies and just eat when it's time to eat," Lew said. "Kids go to school students to learn...they should not have to worry about where their next meal is going to be. Especially if they don't get meals at home, at least they can look forward to going to school to eat."

RELATED: Free lunch at school is more than just a meal — it's fuel for students' futures

Lew said the universal lunch program removed that worry and helped mitigate the stigma of being "that poor kid."

OSPI Executive Director of Child Nutrition Services Leanne Eko said the uniformity made students' economic differences less clear.

"That stigmatism starts to go away, because, just like many other facets at school — where all the kids line up and do band or do PE — it would be the same way for lunch," she said. "Just, everybody would eat."

So, why did Congress let this program sunset in June?

NPR's Ximena Bustillo spoke with KUOW's Angela King about why it fell away and what happens now.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

Angela King: How much of a difference did the universal lunch program make over the past two years?

Ximena Bustillo: It made a really big difference. To start with the numbers: 10 million kids that were already paying for lunch, either full price or reduced, were able to get them for free. And that 10 million is likely a lot higher. But it also gave parents and schools one less administrative thing to worry about, one less cost thing for everyone to worry about.

Some states have decided to continue the program this school year on their own. And here in Washington, schools that meet certain criteria will be allowed to continue the program if they qualify. But this is kind of patchwork here can be confusing for parents, especially those who might be wondering if they need to apply for free lunches.

Yeah, families and school administrators alike agree that this is a very confusing patchwork, because the requirements to qualify for free or reduced-price meals are the same. There are federal requirements for families, and the income limits are the same across the board, regardless of where you live. But the price that you pay for whether or not your school offers one of these lunch programs varies completely from school to school, like not even district to district. It really is at that micro level.

So, it is absolutely confusing. Many school administrators are telling parents to apply even if they are super sure that they don't qualify just in case. But at the same time, they haven't had a lot of time to communicate these issues. Because the lunch waivers that we're going to talk about in a bit were not extended until June. And summer is a really tough time to get ahold of parents and for anyone to be thinking about school.

I also have folks across the country telling me that they're needing to hire more people in schools to do the processing of these applications or to physically cash students out of the lunch line. Those are people that, in the last two years, schools have needed to go without and have been able to go without. Now, they're needing to hire more. And, with labor shortages and rising costs of labor itself, that is another strain. So, it really is a large domino effect.

OSPI says approximately 43% of Washington students qualified for free or reduced-price lunches during the 2019-2020 school year. That increased to about 47% for the 2020-2021 year. Inflation is now a big issue for lots of families. The cost of living in Seattle and many other areas is rising. So, have officials in D.C. discussed any other possible solutions to ensuring that students continue to get fed?

At the end of this month, on September 28, the White House is hosting its first conference in 50 years on hunger, nutrition, and health. Many groups are asking for Biden to push for some sort of universal school meal system or cheaper prices or offsets, so that schools can can pay for the meals themselves. So, we'll have to see what comes out of that conference. That's not until September 28, and there are not that many details about how the White House is going to handle those recommendations right now.

Teacher strikes delayed the start of the new school year in Seattle Wednesday.

Seattle Public Schools is providing free school lunches for all students until 1 p.m. today. Meals are available at 40 school locations across the district. Parents and guardians may pick up meals for students; students do not need to be present.

A full list of pick-up locations and more details about the ongoing strike, available services and more are available on the district website.

KUOW producer John O'Brien and RadioActive youth producer Colin Yuen contributed to this report.