School Lunch: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

12 Sep 2024 (6 days ago)

The National School Lunch Program

The national school lunch program, launched in 1946, provides meals to school children, with over 90% of public schools participating and providing 4.6 billion lunches in the last year alone.
Schools in the United States are reimbursed by the government for meals that students take, not for meals that they prepare.

School lunches are subsidized by the government, but the funding, approximately $4 per meal, is considered insufficient by around two-thirds of school districts to cover all costs, including food, equipment, and salaries, leaving approximately $1.25 for food.
For many children, school lunch might be their only guaranteed meal of the day.
Families must meet eligibility requirements to receive free or reduced-price lunches, which can be cost-prohibitive for some families.
Some schools have resorted to publicly shaming children with lunch debt by making them wear wristbands, perform chores, or withholding grades.
In 2019, over 7 million students in the US who were eligible for free or reduced-price meals did not receive them, with experts attributing this to the stigma associated with these programs.

A study of school districts representing over 5 million students found that the waiver program implemented during the pandemic, which provided free breakfast and lunch to all public school students, led to an increase of approximately 1.4 million students participating in school lunch daily in 2021.
Eight states, including Minnesota, have passed Universal Free Meal programs, often funding them through state budgets, despite opposition from some Republican lawmakers.
A study in Massachusetts revealed that 42% of families with children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals reported their child would be less likely to eat a school meal if it wasn't free for all children.
Minnesota allocated $400 million for universal free meals over the initial two years, but projections indicate it will cost approximately $80 million more than initially budgeted.
Many experts believed that prior to 2020, universal free meals, while incredibly beneficial, would never happen in America.

During the Reagan administration, the federal school lunch budget was cut, and ketchup was briefly classified as a vegetable.
Jamie Oliver visited a West Virginia school in 2010 and criticized the pre-made processed food that was served to students.
School nutrition programs are massive undertakings, with some directors comparing them to running the biggest restaurant in town, serving thousands of meals daily.