Giving Compass' Take:

• The Heritage Foundation argues that our government in Washington shouldn’t use taxpayer funds to feed students from middle-income and upper-income families, albeit it a noble goal. 

• How can funders help to expand the understanding of the benefits of free lunch? What can community members do to make school lunches more accessible for the lower class? 

• Learn about why no child should be shamed for not being able to afford lunch. 

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), operated by the Food and Nutrition Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), serves meals to 30 million public and private K–12 students every year. Started in 1946, the NSLP has grown from a grant program to help feed students from low-income families and children with special needs to a federal entitlement for millions of students—in some areas, regardless of income.

Over the past century, Washington has expanded its school meal service from lunch to include breakfast (through the School Breakfast Program) and dinner (through the Child and Adult Care Food Program). And, in 2010, federal lawmakers abandoned any pretense of limiting services to students in need with the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). Through the CEP, all children in a school, group of schools, or school district can receive free meals at taxpayer expense if 40 percent of students are from families participating in other means-tested assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps).

Read the full article about government involvement in school meals by Jonathan Butcher at The Heritage Foundation.