Free School Meals Are Popular. Hawaiʻi Isn’t Sold.
Three years after lawmakers first considered making school meals free for all kids, students and teachers are still pushing for change.
Castle High School senior Haliʻa Tom-Jardine has seen firsthand what happens when her classmates can’t afford lunch: embarrassment, followed by lethargy and shorter attention spans in class.
Fewer students are facing these challenges after lawmakers set aside nearly $4 million to increase access to free school meals last spring. The Hawaiʻi Department of Education has estimated that nearly 28,000 low-income students could benefit from the two-year expansion.
But students and teachers say the new funding still isn’t reaching all kids in need of free meals at school. Not all parents know how to complete the paperwork needed for free school meals, advocates say, while others may earn too much to qualify for free lunch but still struggle financially.
“Food is not just a meal,” said Tom-Jardine, who started receiving free school lunch for the first time this year. “It’s every kid having a full stomach and then being able to function in class.”
This year marked the fourth attempt by Hawai‘i lawmakers and advocates — including Tom-Jardine and some of her classmates — to pass legislation that would guarantee free school meals to every student by the end of the decade. The bill, introduced by Rep. Trish La Chica, received over 100 pages of supportive testimony as it passed through the House. However, it died last month when it failed to receive a hearing in the Senate Education Committee, chaired by Sen. Donna Kim.
Kim said she killed the bill amid concerns the Department of Education wasn’t properly overseeing its meal program and managing its high costs. The department came under fire this spring when an audit found that state leadership didn’t set budgets for cafeteria managers and struggled to track local produce purchases.
While she supports feeding kids nutritious meals, Kim said, the state needs to be mindful of how much it’s spending on social support programs and whether taxpayers can sustain these initiatives in the long run.
The estimates of running a universal meal program have also varied wildly, raising more questions among lawmakers about the true price of the initiative. While advocacy groups say the program could cost nearly $33 million, the education department has cited estimates ranging from $50 million to $111 million, or even more.
The public’s uncertainty around how the education department calculates its cost estimates only exacerbates some lawmakers’ concerns as the state grapples with federal cuts and budget uncertainty, said Genevieve Mumma, food equity policy analyst at Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice.
“We have the DOE saying that they agree with our intent,” she said, “but then, since the legislature doesn’t have that trust in the DOE, it makes it even harder for them to have trust in this policy.”
Free Meals — At What Cost?
When students can’t afford to buy lunch, it can be challenging to make it through classes, extracurriculars and sports practices that occupy the second half of their day, said Mia Nishiguchi, a senior at Kalani High School. Even families who don’t qualify for free school meals may struggle financially, she said, and need help providing lunch for their kids.
“There’s still a bunch of students who technically don’t qualify, but still aren’t able to get lunch every single day without it being a big financial burden on their families,” Nishiguchi said.
Last year, lawmakers approved an expansion of the free school meals program to cover kids who qualify for reduced-price lunch as well as those whose families make up to 300% of the federal poverty line. For a family of four, that would be around $110,000 annually.
At the time, the education department estimated that nearly 28,000 students could receive free school meals under the new policy.
Currently, most families need to complete forms to prove they qualify for free school lunch — a requirement that could be eliminated if schools provided meals to all students, said Nicole Woo, director of research and economic policy at Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network Speaks.
Paperwork can be a barrier for parents, especially if they don’t speak English fluently or worry about participating in government programs because of their immigration status, she said.
Last fall, nine states offered universal free school meals, with several others considering similar legislation.
But some Hawaiʻi lawmakers have pushed back on the proposal, questioning how the state will pay for the program and how much it truly costs.
While Kim said she’s in favor of providing free lunches to low-income students, a universal meal program also supports wealthier parents who can afford lunches for their kids.
“Families that have the ability to pay should be paying,” Kim said, adding that the state is already facing greater financial constraints amid federal funding cuts.
The education department has also failed to manage its meal program efficiently, Kim said, pointing to the millions of dollars school leaders spent on nutrition software that went unused in some cafeterias. The department also neglected to spend thousands of federal dollars that could purchase locally grown produce for schools in recent years, according to a state audit.
Advocacy groups like Appleseed and Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute say the state would need to set aside roughly $33 million for a universal free meal program to make up the revenue the education department currently earns from students who purchase breakfast and lunch. The estimate also accounts for a potential increase in the number of students participating in the meal program if breakfast and lunch were free. Last year, the department brought in roughly $17 million in revenue from the sale of student meals, according to the Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute.
The required $33 million would be on top of the nearly $80 million the education department receives in state funding for its food program, said Nate Hix, director of policy and advocacy at Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute.
But the Department of Education’s estimates are much higher, with school leaders projecting the program would cost $50 million with current student participation rates in the meal program. If more students began eating breakfast and lunch at school, the education department said, a universal meal program could cost more than $111 million.
Advocates say it’s unclear how the education department made these estimates, although the numbers likely include costs the state is already incurring for its meal program. The department did not respond to requests for comment on how it made its calculations.
In a Senate Education Committee hearing last month, lawmakers questioned how the state would pay for free school meals, especially since the education department has historically struggled to provide data or clear explanations on the growing cost of its meal program. It may not be sustainable for the state to take on, Kim said, suggesting that funding could come at the expense of other school priorities or state programs.
“Somebody’s budget is going to get cut,” she said.
Limits On Meal Costs
While the universal free meals bill died last month, a related set of bills determining how much schools can charge for lunch have moved forward.
State law currently requires schools to charge students at least half the cost of producing school meals, meaning lunch prices should be roughly $4.50. The department charges much less for meals, with lunch prices set at $2.50 for elementary and middle schoolers and $2.75 for high schoolers.
House Bill 2296, introduced on behalf of Gov. Josh Green, would amend the law to require the education department to charge at least a quarter of the costs of producing a meal. Superintendent Keith Hayashi supported this change, arguing that it allows schools to maintain their current lunch prices while giving the department flexibility to charge more in the future.
But advocates argue the legislation creates another barrier to implementing a universal meal program. The bill still sets a minimum amount on how much the education department should charge for lunch, Mumma said. She preferred an earlier version of the proposal that set a cap on how much schools could charge for meals – meaning they could charge nothing at all.
“It ties our hands for free school meals,” Mumma said.
The full Senate is expected to vote on the measure on Tuesday.
La Chica, who introduced the universal free meals bill this year, said she plans on pushing for similar measures next session. In the meantime, she said, she hopes the education department will share more details on how they’re managing the expenses of their meal program and the data they’re using to calculate the cost of providing free school meals.
“It’s really working to get them to come back to us with answers,” La Chica said, “and really show us that you’re serious about this, you’re serious about investing in our kids.”
Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy. Our reporting on economic inequality is supported by the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation as part of its work to build equity for all through the CHANGE Framework; and by the Cooke Foundation.
