NJ Bill Could Bring Back Free School Meals, As Federal Plan Set To End

NEW JERSEY, NJ — Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the federal government has been providing students with free school lunches across the country. These lunches were given to all students irrespective of their family’s income status.

However, the federal program is set to expire on June 30, after Congress failed to extend the provision for another year.

But legislators in New Jersey have put forth a package of measures to expand free school meals for students.

The bill, sponsored by Speaker Craig J. Coughlin (D-Middlesex), Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt (Camden, Burlington), and Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-Essex, Morris), is designed to create a pathway to universal school breakfast and lunch.

The “Working Class Families’ Anti-Hunger Act” hopes to strengthen food security by providing for students from working-class, middle-income families.

The bill (A-2368) would require schools to serve breakfast and lunch, free of charge, to students from families with an annual household income not less than 186 percent, and not more than 199 percent, of the federal poverty level.

This means a family of four that earns around $55,000 a year, is eligible for the program, according to federal poverty standards.

This puts approximately 26,463 New Jersey families under the free lunch and breakfast program.

Coughlin said the bill was critical in meeting the needs of working families. “Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, many New Jersey residents experienced unemployment and faced food insecurity as a result. Many are still struggling to keep up with bills, which means helping keep money in people’s pockets while ensuring their most basic needs are met has never been more important,” Coughlin said.

The bill recently advanced in the Assembly and is part of a larger package that combats hunger and expands accessibility to food safety net programs.

If passed, the legislation would require the State to provide funding to school districts, to reimburse the costs associated with free meals to middle-income students who are federally ineligible under the National School Lunch Program or federal School Breakfast Program.

Renee Koubiadis, Anti-Poverty Program Director of New Jersey Citizen Action, said providing children with the nutrition they need improves school participation, academic performance, health, and mental health outcomes.

“As research shows, true poverty in New Jersey is up to three times this official federal measure,” Koubiadis said in a statement. “This new legislation is a good step to ensuring more children do not go hungry.”

Other proposals in the package include measures to streamline SNAP application process and establish SNAP call center (A2359) and eliminate requirement that participation in NJ SNAP Employment and Training Program is mandatory for certain residents (A2360).

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