Giving Compass' Take: 

• When a student is served a different meal from other students in school because they are behind on payments, this practice is known as lunch shaming. Washington state signed a bill that will end this practice. 

• How is lunch shaming harming the well-being of students? Can philanthropy play a role in ending lunch shaming? How can we promote a wider discussion about school responsibility which includes better nutrition and food practices?

• Other states are leading by example and providing access to food through breakfast programs to low-income students. 

It’s bad enough when students can’t afford school lunch, forced by their circumstances to go hungry during class. Schools across the country add insult to empty stomachs with a practice known as “lunch shaming”: serving students differently when they fall behind on meal payments.

Signed last week by Democratic Governor Jay Inslee, the Hunger-Free Students’ Bill of Rights Act will require schools to serve a hot meal to any student requesting one, regardless of their ability to pay.

Current lunch shaming methods vary by district. For example, in Seattle, the most populous city in the state, students who owe lunch money are given cold alternatives to hot meals.

The law is significant because it bridges a major gap in institutional responsibility for school nutrition, says Christine Tran, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington College of Education, who focuses on school nutrition equity.

To that end, the bill goes far beyond the promise of a shame-free lunch. It also explicitly puts the onus on schools to reach out to families with lunch debt, working to facilitate enrollment in free or reduced-price meals programs (FRPMs).

The bill’s detractors are concerned about the financial toll the of the new law, as many school lunch programs already run a deficit. But momentum for lunch shaming bans is growing elsewhere. Last year, New Mexico became the first state to ban the practice. Texas followed suit shortly after. Earlier this year, New York‘s Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed doing the same, and lawmakers in Minnesota are currently considering a similar bill.

Read the full article about lunch shaming by Jessica Fu at The New Food Economy.