It is National School Lunch Week and groups in Oregon are taking the opportunity to encourage lawmakers to make school meals available to every kid in the state.
The School Meals for All coalition is calling for legislation to make breakfast and lunch free for all Oregon students. The coalition wants lawmakers to adopt the policy during the 2025 session.
David Wieland, policy advocate for the group Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon, said the state is already close to the goal.
“About 1,191 schools in the state are already participating and we’re only 65 schools away,” Wieland reported. “We’re so close to the finish line in realizing this vision.”
Nine states have adopted universal school meals. Opponents have pointed to the high cost of providing meals to every student in the state but one in six Oregon children faces hunger, according to Feeding America data.
Loren Naldoza, public policy advocate for Oregon Food Bank, said free school meals have a number of benefits, including helping students academically.
“Our fight for a universal school meals program ensures that any student who doesn’t have a lunch that day won’t have to worry about being hungry because one will be ready for them,” Naldoza emphasized. “We’re going to see this pay off, in the short term and in the long term.”
Wieland added the policy the School Meals for All coalition is pushing for would also improve food quality.
“Moving to free a breakfast and lunch program gets rid of the administrative overhead,” Wieland noted. “Our proposal is going to slightly increase funding so that more money is going to fresh ingredients that are scratch cooked, and children enjoy and deserve.”
