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I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

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Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#11

Post by dsr_ »

M3L0NM4N wrote: post #4

Is the overhead in deciding who gets free lunch and who doesn't and then managing the debt really saving more money than just giving all public school kids free lunches with no strings attached?

If you throw in the effects on school attendance and participation, yes.

Massachusetts extended the free school lunch (and breakfast) program to all students in 2023. Here's the report on 2024:

https://www.mass.gov/doc/universal-free-school-mealsfinal070...

It's nominally 20 pages but the first five are boilerplate and ToC and the last ten are a listing of how much each school district received, so you could reasonably read all the actual report.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#12

Post by infecto »

Nit: could not stand the writing style. It took 3-4x more words than it should have.

On the topic I agree and believe strongly that all kids should receive free food at school. It amazes me people will fight to prevent when to me the costs are small but the benefit can be huge for the next generation.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#14

Post by thinkingtoilet »

candiddevmike wrote: post #7
thinkingtoilet wrote: post #5

It's astonishing this is a thing. I'm thankful to live in Massachusetts where all kids can get lunch for free with no questions asked. Where I live, kids can get breakfast too, however I've heard that isn't universal in the state. The article points out another issue that is so widespread. Often times, being right above or below a cut off line can make a huge difference and it's kids just above the cut off line here…

During COVID, school lunch was free, and most school served free bag lunches over the summer too. That ended in June 2022. Congress could've kept it going for a pittance, but alas...

That's what happened in MA. It was COVID that started the program and then we kept it up because we're decent people.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#15

Post by dataflow »

I'm confused about the mechanics of the process here. Could someone explain how paying off the lunch debt translates to hot meals? I'm confused because the fact that a continuous debt -- however the amount -- means your expenses exceed your revenue. So even if you pay it off... doesn't that mean when doors open tomorrow, there'll be new debt, and thus the problem will still recur? Or is the idea that the debt was decreasing?

Edit: Fixed some misunderstanding in my comment.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#16

Post by vlovich123 »

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #5

It's astonishing this is a thing. I'm thankful to live in Massachusetts where all kids can get lunch for free with no questions asked. Where I live, kids can get breakfast too, however I've heard that isn't universal in the state. The article points out another issue that is so widespread. Often times, being right above or below a cut off line can make a huge difference and it's kids just above the cut off line here…

[flagged]

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#17

Post by NoMoreNicksLeft »

thinkingtoilet wrote: post #5

It's astonishing this is a thing. I'm thankful to live in Massachusetts where all kids can get lunch for free with no questions asked. Where I live, kids can get breakfast too, however I've heard that isn't universal in the state. The article points out another issue that is so widespread. Often times, being right above or below a cut off line can make a huge difference and it's kids just above the cut off line here…

>I'm thankful to live in Massachusetts where all kids can get lunch for free

What's the cost of living in Massachusetts again?

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#18

Post by SamBam »

vlovich123 wrote: post #16
thinkingtoilet wrote: post #5

It's astonishing this is a thing. I'm thankful to live in Massachusetts where all kids can get lunch for free with no questions asked. Where I live, kids can get breakfast too, however I've heard that isn't universal in the state. The article points out another issue that is so widespread. Often times, being right above or below a cut off line can make a huge difference and it's kids just above the cut off line here…

[flagged]

Except it does the opposite, because it disincentives you from raising your income above that line.

Re: I decided to pay off a school’s lunch debt

#20

Post by labrador »

My mother suffered severe post-partum depression when I was 7 so I got my 5 year old brother and I off to school most mornings in the 60's. Thankfully I grew up in California so we were never food shamed unlike some states that still think lunch debt is a moral failure.
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