Roughly 70,000 Hawaii public school students eat free or reduced-price school lunches, but nearly 15,000 still struggle with food insecurity and do not qualify for the National School Lunch Program.
State Senate Bill 154 would require the Department of Education to develop and implement a School Meal Subsidy Program to provide lunches for students who do not qualify for the federal program.
There are 92 DOE schools and 14 charter schools that provide universal free meals.
“Cases of chronic hunger can lead to achievement gaps, concentration loss, illness, increased absenteeism, behavioral problems, depression, and misdiagnosed learning disabilities,” said Hawaii State Teachers Association President Osa Tui Jr. in written testimony. “Providing a decent meal for our impoverished children is a moral and educational imperative.”
Hawaii County had a food insecurity rate of roughly 17% in 2021, according to data from the nonprofit Feeding America.
The DOE also confirmed that 19,792 Big Island students currently receive free school lunches, while 539 receive reduced-price lunches. But 3,082 students pay for their meals.
Statewide, the DOE collects roughly $1.8 million every month that school is in session for lunches, according to testimony during Thursday’s House Committee on Education hearing.
“Those cash sales we get from students were substantial and important for our start-up funds at the beginning of the new school year because we have to output cash for purchases,” Assistant Superintendent Randall Tanaka said Thursday. “When COVID came in and the cash sales were not there, we had to draw upon some of the reserves that we typically get from the cash sales, so it kind of put an imbalance to our operation.”
The federal government covered the cost of all school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The DOE estimates the new proposed subsidy program could cost roughly $18 million, but that number might change, as $8 million in federal subsidies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture are coming to Hawaii due to legislative action taken by Congress.
Other factors that could alter the cost include additional students that might opt in for lunches if the option was available to them, and the rising cost of certain foods, which the DOE estimated rose by 42% this year in certain cases.
“If we can figure out how much we need to appropriate, that will be helpful,” House Committee on Education Chair Justin Woodson of Maui said during a hearing about the state bill on Thursday. “There seems to be a willingness to take this proposal on in some form or fashion.”
Federal eligibility for free meals requires that households earn less than 130% of the federal poverty level, or $44,850 annually for a family of four in 2023.
“A family of four that makes $60,000 per year doesn’t qualify for free or reduced price lunch,” Nicole Woo, director of research and economic policy at Hawaii Children’s Action Network Speaks, said in written testimony. “If that family has two students eating breakfast and lunch at school, they must pay about $1,300 per year for those meals.”
The DOE had an increase in school meal debt of over $100,000 by December 2022 when free federal meals ended following the pandemic. This was higher than prepandemic years, when the school meal debt hovered between $60,000 to $70,000.
Under current state policy, students and parents who fail to pay school lunch bills can be denied food.
“Feeding our students is a daunting task, over 100,000 a day, but we know that we need to do better,” said Deputy Superintendent Curt Otaguro on Thursday. “The only challenge would be if we can afford that entire subsidy, and that’s something we’d like to work with the Legislature on.”
The House voted Thursday to pass SB 154, but altered the start date for more time to review the language of the bill and wait for additional information from the DOE.
A separate bill, House Bill 542, would provide not only free lunches for all students, but breakfasts as well.
That bill passed the House and is headed to the Senate Ways and Means committee and the Committee on Education.
“Only 40% (of students) eat school breakfasts,” Tui said in written testimony. “Hawaii ranks 47th in school breakfast participation rates among qualifying students.”
The DOE expressed concerns with House bill 542 though, including where to direct the potential funding.
“The department disagrees with directing the appropriation amount to the Hawaii Child Nutrition Programs,” said Superintendent Keith Hayashi in written testimony. “It should be appropriated to the department’s School Food Services Branch which manages the school food program operations and the state funding for the department’s noncharter schools.”
Email Grant Phillips at gphillips@hawaiitribune-herald.com