There is a federal lunch subsidy program, and many states also have their own lunch programs. The program even extends through the summer.
Several caveats.
First, not every state participates. This is free money that states could use to feed hungry kids, and some states are just like "nah, fuck them kids."
Second, parents generally have to apply for the program. You fill out some forms, and the kids get subsidized lunches. That's a problem, because not every parent knows the programs exist, not every parent speaks English or Spanish or another language the school might be thoughtful enough to have the forms translated into. At my kids' elementary school, during Covid, we learned that there are 32 different first languages spoken in the homes of students. Sharing information is a problem.
Third, the subsidized lunch is often a lesser meal than what the paying kids get. It might be a cheese and white bread sandwich, an apple sauce, and some milk. Now, sure, if you're hungry, food is better than no food. But kids know what the brown bag lunch means. It's embarrassing, creates division across income levels, and can encourage some hungry kids to choose not to accept the food rather than face ridicule.
But you know what's amazing? During Covid, school meal providers were facing financial ruin. They had contracts to provide food for a bunch of kids that weren't in the schools. Sysco and Aramark and many others were staring at a total loss for all of their school lunch programs, and the government bailed them out. The state and federal governments found a way to pay for all the school lunches and give them away for free to all students in every state. There wasn't even a debate, and no politicians opposed it.
The money was just there, no strings or hoops or pork barrel haggling. Major industry is facing crisis, and suddenly we can afford to feed all the kids, no exceptions, no forms or paperwork. Local food banks were overflowing with frozen meals and fresh produce and all the tiny cartons of milk you can imagine.
Now, you could say that Covid was an emergency, that the collapse of the school lunch industry would have horrible economic ramifications, and that would be true.
But it wasn't even expensive, and that was for everybody. There's no reason we could not afford to provide free lunches to any child in America who asks for it, and I mean a real lunch. The same thing the kid who paid is getting. School cafeterias throw away more food than the value of food given away as part of free lunch programs AND unpaid lunch debts combined. Feeding every child would be a rounding error, and nobody would be stigmatized or penalized because their parents couldn't afford their lunch.
Hungry kids don't learn. Feed them all.
