‘All kids deserve nutrition’: Michigan private schools fight for free meals

Most students returning to school this month are again promised a free breakfast and lunch every day, but thousands more children will be left out.

More than 4,200 students who attend non-public schools in the state would be eligible for Michigan’s free lunch program if lawmakers and the governor see fit to expand the program beyond public schools.

The estimated cost to include most of the nonpublic schools that would be eligible in the program is $1.6 million — a drop in the bucket compared to the $200 million approved by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to continue the program another year for public schools .

“It’s a relatively simple issue: Either you believe that all children deserve to be fed and able to go to school ready to learn, or you believe that only some children are,” said Brian Broderick, executive director of the Michigan Non-Government Association. Schools (MANS), which provided those estimates.

The Michigan program, which Whitmer hoped to make permanent, serves the state’s 1.4 million public school students. Her office previously said it would help students focus on learning and save families $850 a year.

Continuing that program, along with free pre-K for most and free community college, were highlights of the $23.4 billion state education budget pushed by Democrats when it passed this summer.

Related: Governor Whitmer signs $23.4 billion education budget, including free community college, pre-K

Officials from Whitmer’s office and the House Democratic Caucus did not provide clear answers about why nonpublic schools are not included in the second year of the state program.

They say the state is restricted from using School Aid Fund dollars in non-public schools, but the state is allowed to use General Fund dollars for those schools, as they do with public safety initiatives, providing water filters and more .

For Broderick, whose organization represents about 80 percent of the state’s 115,000 non-public students, the state leadership’s responses are “just kind of an excuse.”

“The state has allowed non-public schools to participate in school safety funding issues,” Broderick said. “There’s this idea that all children, no matter where they go to school, deserve to be in safe learning environments. Again, nothing to do with education, with what is taught.

“Why isn’t it true that all children are well-nourished so they can learn better?”

The difference between the number of non-public students in the state and those who would be eligible for the state program is because schools must serve not only lunch but also breakfast to be eligible for the program.

Broderick said not all schools are able to staff and fund breakfast services, and some schools that would be eligible already offer federally funded meals because more than 25 percent of students come from households receiving assistance federal.

Michigan’s free school meal program comes after the federal government ended its pandemic program in 2022 that provided free meals to all students, both public and private.

Related: As federal free lunch program for all students ends, Michigan could spend $171 million to continue

A number of US states, such as Michigan, have seen the benefit of continuing free access to free nutritious meals – regardless of income – and have adopted their own initiatives.

In Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate, has enacted a free meals program for all students, public and non-public.

Lisa Burnis is principal at Scoala Catolica St. Francis de Sales in Manistique, overseeing 160 students in grades pre-K through eighth. Her school is one of those that would be eligible for the state program.

Burnis said there was a marked difference in behavior after the federal free meal program ended, when students were provided with two nutritious meals a day.

“We have more behavior problems and more lethargy; they’re just not getting the proper nutrition, it seems,” she said. “And the parents do a good job, they do their best, but everyone knows how it goes. When the economy isn’t doing very well, and our economy is pretty depressed up here, they go home and it’s dinner on TV or in the car — quick stuff.”

There is a misconception that those who attend non-public schools come from wealthy families. The reality, Broderick said, is that nonpublic schools, like public schools, often mirror the income patterns of the community in which they are located.

Even so, the state’s free meal program isn’t about providing meals to poor students, many of whom already receive free or reduced-price lunches. Instead, it’s about providing nutritious meals for all students.

“The state’s policy is, ‘We will feed all public school children, regardless of their income,'” Broderick said. “If you’re in a high-income community, say Grosse Pointe or Kentwood or Northville, all those kids in a public school have access or eligibility for the free breakfast and lunch program, and nobody’s asking them what their income is .

“But somehow there’s this perception that all non-public school kids are doing well, and that’s just not true. And two, you treat kids differently depending on how their school is covered.”

Administrative Assistant St. Francis de Sales Janet Knaffla oversees student lunch accounts. She recalled how hard it was to tell parents that free meals for their children were ending with the federal program.

“When it was free, it was so beneficial to our families,” Knaffla said. “It made it easier not only to pay that lunch price, but just knowing that they’re going to get a square meal, because it’s really hard now and it was hard right after the pandemic when we had to leave. back to charging parents for lunch.

“It was a huge hurdle for me to talk to parents and explain to them, ‘Yes, I understand that public school is free and we’re not, but there’s nothing I can do about it.’ They were very upset.”

Jill Annable, president and CEO at West Catholic High School in Grand Rapids, said the number of children eating breakfast and lunch increased dramatically when it was offered free thanks to the federal government’s pandemic program.

She has 1,500 high school students and six elementary schools in West Michigan who were locked out when the federal program ended but would have been eligible for the state’s free meals program.

“If the intent of the legislation is to put children and nutrition first, then where a child goes to school should not impact that,” Annable said.