8 US states offer free lunch for students. Here’s how they pay for it, from a 4% millionaire’s tax to a $0.03 property tax rate increase.
- “Massachusetts is the latest state to expand free school lunch since a COVID-era program ended.
- The state funds it through a 4% millionaire’s tax, while other states increase property taxes.
- Here’s how eight states pay for free lunch for public school students. “
NOT North Dakota!
North Dakota lawmakers set to give themselves a pay raise
ND Lawmakers: ‘nay’ to free school lunches for students, ‘yea’ to more in meal reimbursements for legislators
“BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Lawmakers in North Dakota voted to boost their own meal reimbursements just days after they voted against expanding the free lunch program in North Dakota.
The North Dakota Senate voted to approve SB 2124 Thursday, which increases in-state meal reimbursements for state employees, including lawmakers during interim legislative meetings, from $35 per day to $45 per day. The last time per diem for state employees was increased was 2013. Senator Kyle Davison, R-Fargo, said when introducing the bill, “I believe with inflation it’s time to consider an increase.”
Last week, the Senate voted against HB 1491, which would have covered meals for students whose families are between 130% and 200% of the poverty level. For a family of four, that means those making less than about $60,000. Several members of the Senate voted for SB 2124 and against HB 1491.”
Mississippi?
Mississippi opts out of federal summer food program, Reeves cites opposition to ‘welfare state’ expansion
“Gov. Tate Reeves’ office says Mississippi won’t participate in a federal summer food program for children because of his desire to reject “attempts to expand the welfare state.”
But officials at the state’s welfare agency that Reeves oversees, which participated in a similar federal program earlier in the pandemic, offered a different reason for opting out of the program: a lack of state resources to administer it.
The Summer EBT program would provide the families of students who receive free or reduced lunch during the school year with electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards that can be used to purchase groceries in the summer. For each eligible child, families would receive $40 per month for a total of $120.
Thirty-five states, all five U.S. territories, and four Tribes will be participating in the program for its first year, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture said it expects will benefit nearly 21 million children. The other states that have opted out include Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming.”
I have maps – find Mississippi
Massachusetts passed a 4% millionaire’s tax last year. Now every public-school student will have access to free lunch.
Ken Paxton Among AGs Suing USDA Over LGBTQ School Meal Directive
“More than 20 Republican attorneys general have filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration over a Department of Agriculture school meal program that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity”
After Bryce Gowdy’s suicide, let’s elevate the conversation about poverty’s effects on youth | Commentary
A Virginia church pays off meal debt at two school systems. They want others to follow suit.
In college, we were given an assignment by a professor to write a one-page paper on our philosophy of teaching. I wrote one sentence:
Kids Can’t Pick Their Parents!
The professor asked me to explain, since I wrote only one sentence instead of an entire page. I told him that is my entire philosophy. Kids have no control over their original station in life. You can not be angry at a 12-year-old for being late to baseball practice because his parents can’t get him there on time. You can’t be mad a student in the classroom for not having paper or a pencil when her parents won’t go to store and buy them.
