I hate to break it to you, but the federal government doesn’t even pay for school lunches. A school child is fortunate and privileged if they receive that slop.
In America, there are a subset of children that live in such poverty that without the free school meal, they would go hungry. 2023 statistics suggest that 14% of children come from food insecure households. I honestly believe that government published statistic is an an underestimate. Children from food insecure households can qualify to get free lunches, which are subsidized by state and local government. The federal government also subsidizes school lunches through the National School Lunch Program The logic behind subsidizing lunch for these kids, is that hungry kids are distracted and won’t be able to learn as well. Children that come from families with means generally will be provided lunch by their parents, or their parents can afford to give their kids money to purchase the lunch served by the school cafeteria.
It is normal and mandated, but unfortunately is also underfunded and often low quality/small portions (for perspective, after including costs of labor and maintenance, schools have roughly $1.50 to work with at scale for each meal).
For parents who can afford it and (crucially) have the time to prepare lunch for their children, they do so. Growing up, I always enjoyed making my own lunch or bringing leftovers from last night :)
That’s not the case for many, many people though. The amount of children who count on the school meal as their only reliable source of nutrition each day is staggering. The meal program was expanded during Covid, but afterwards some conservative areas walked it back substantially in an attempt to “save costs for taxpayers”. It’s counterintuitive as all hell though, as my parents (who are/were teachers) would put it, “You can’t teach a hungry child”.
USA’s School System is a large number of decentralized districts funded by municipalities with some paltry state and federal funding. The public schools simply cannot afford to feed every child in most of them, so instead school lunches are offered on a meal plan that the parents can pay in advance if they can afford it. Many children simply wait to eat at home or go hungry.
I live in Massachusetts where we’ve had universal school lunch/no means-testing for a few years. We dont need free lunch by any measure, but it really takes something off my plate. That’s my big reason for using it…one less thing to worry about.
For a lot of kids (too many), school lunch may be the best meal that they get in any given day.
As someone who also isn’t from US, our lunches, elementary up until high school we got full lunches. Oh, and in elementary there was even option for brunch!
So you got the full
Drink (Water/Tea/Milk/…)
Soup
Main meal
Snack (cake/pudding/orange/banana/…)
Oh, and in HS I could also choose between A/B based on preference for the main.
I checked a few HSs now quickly, seems around €2.50/day for lunches. Though who knows about private schools.
I hate to break it to you, but the federal government doesn’t even pay for school lunches. A school child is fortunate and privileged if they receive that slop.
It doesn’t say that these are federal, but yes
1033 program giving surplus military weapons, equipment, and vehicles was definitely federal.
LAPD look pretty similar.
As someone who isn’t from America, why don’t parents make lunch for their kids? I have seen school provided lunches in movies, but is it normal?
In America, there are a subset of children that live in such poverty that without the free school meal, they would go hungry. 2023 statistics suggest that 14% of children come from food insecure households. I honestly believe that government published statistic is an an underestimate. Children from food insecure households can qualify to get free lunches, which are subsidized by state and local government. The federal government also subsidizes school lunches through the National School Lunch Program The logic behind subsidizing lunch for these kids, is that hungry kids are distracted and won’t be able to learn as well. Children that come from families with means generally will be provided lunch by their parents, or their parents can afford to give their kids money to purchase the lunch served by the school cafeteria.
It is normal and mandated, but unfortunately is also underfunded and often low quality/small portions (for perspective, after including costs of labor and maintenance, schools have roughly $1.50 to work with at scale for each meal).
For parents who can afford it and (crucially) have the time to prepare lunch for their children, they do so. Growing up, I always enjoyed making my own lunch or bringing leftovers from last night :)
That’s not the case for many, many people though. The amount of children who count on the school meal as their only reliable source of nutrition each day is staggering. The meal program was expanded during Covid, but afterwards some conservative areas walked it back substantially in an attempt to “save costs for taxpayers”. It’s counterintuitive as all hell though, as my parents (who are/were teachers) would put it, “You can’t teach a hungry child”.
USA’s School System is a large number of decentralized districts funded by municipalities with some paltry state and federal funding. The public schools simply cannot afford to feed every child in most of them, so instead school lunches are offered on a meal plan that the parents can pay in advance if they can afford it. Many children simply wait to eat at home or go hungry.
I live in Massachusetts where we’ve had universal school lunch/no means-testing for a few years. We dont need free lunch by any measure, but it really takes something off my plate. That’s my big reason for using it…one less thing to worry about.
For a lot of kids (too many), school lunch may be the best meal that they get in any given day.
As someone who also isn’t from US, our lunches, elementary up until high school we got full lunches. Oh, and in elementary there was even option for brunch!
So you got the full
Oh, and in HS I could also choose between A/B based on preference for the main.
I checked a few HSs now quickly, seems around €2.50/day for lunches. Though who knows about private schools.
That doesn’t change the fact that the US are spending ridiculous amounts of money on the police while neglecting everything else.
If you somehow interpreted my comment as a defence of the militarized police you’re completely mistaken.