Stop the shame and the hunger: The need for school meal program reform

Katrina M. Gagliano, Monica O. Yassa and Adam Winsler

Children and Youth Services Review, 2023, vol. 155, issue C

Abstract: The current School Meal Program (SMP) system has existed in the U.S. for more than seventy years, with the intent to offer free and reduced-price meals to students in need. However, after decades of state and local-level implementation of SMPs, the programs today are ineffective at fully addressing students’ physical, social, and emotional needs. State and local education agencies have struggled to carry out successful eligibility, enrollment, and debt-collection processes, ultimately resulting in harmful practices, including lunch-shaming. Such practices impede the success of the program to fulfill its goals and may negatively impact students’ social and emotional development. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and with increased levels of food insecurity, state and local education agencies should consider adjusting their practices to fully meet student nutrition needs. In this unique time, education agencies are presented with an opportunity to move beyond the current SMP model to better fulfill the program’s ultimate goal of providing students with the nutritional support needed to thrive both in and outside the classroom. Here we suggest modern reforms for the SMP landscape through greater levels of federal regulation, guidance, and review processes to support effective SMP implementation at the state and district level; reevaluation of state and local education agencies’ use of available federal options to increase access to school meals; and further research on SMP implementation, debt-collection practices, and costs of a universal free meals program to better understand their effects on student outcomes.

Keywords: Students; Education; Stigma; Free and reduced-price lunch (FRPL) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:155:y:2023:i:c:s0190740923004413

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107245

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