A Universal Investment
A Universal Investment
By Chris Carbone
On our social media in the past few weeks, and onward into Summer, one of the main themes you’ll see us returning to is the painful and oft-overlooked fact that the Summer months are especially trying for families suffering from food insecurity. Kids who receive free or reduced-price school breakfast and lunch are suddenly without these meals that they rely on. This leaves parents scrambling to make up for this gap in their children’s nutrition that they were receiving because they couldn’t afford it in the first place. Policy can no longer overlook families who depend on school meals—hunger does not take a Summer vacation.
The good news is that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) reintroduced The Universal School Meals Program Act of 2026—legislation with the goal to end child hunger in America. This would provide free school meals and snacks to every student in the country regardless of their economic status.
For those who want to say it’s ‘too expensive’ or ‘unrealistic,’ fine. Let’s put it this way: think of it more as an investment than a tax vacuum. A Brookings Institute study found that, when schools contract with a healthy lunch company, student test scores are about 4 percentile points higher, with the test scores for students qualifying for reduced-price or free school lunches about 40% higher.
Additionally, it would eliminate school meal debt—ending the harassment of parents and students over unpaid bills by reimbursing the schools. It also pushes for school meals to consist more of local agriculture. This brings healthier food onto children’s plates while supporting the economy at the local level. It would provide Summer meals to all children and increased Sun Bucks (Summer EBT) to lower-income children. Nearly 100 organizations have endorsed the bill so far, including the American Heart Association and the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics.
Why was the bill reintroduced now? And why might the circumstances under which it is gaining potential congressional approval again be fortuitous to its success?
Congress allowed the nationwide pandemic-era universal school meals program to expire after the 2021-2022 school year. Throw in the recent spikes in grocery prices, as well as the ongoing cuts to nutrition programs like SNAP, and you get what we are seeing now: even more folks, including those with children, being forced to identify their newfound condition with the definition of food insecurity.
As of this writing, the bill has been introduced in both the House and the Senate. You can support it by calling your representatives and urging them to co-sponsor and support this bill—because shame should never be a factor in connection with access to adequate and affordable food, and access to food should not determine a student’s academic success.