House lawmakers propose making free school lunch in Massachusetts permanent
BOSTON - Free school lunches in Massachusetts are one step closer to becoming a permanent change.
Lawmakers on Beacon Hill proposed their $56.2 billion budget to get the state through the 2024 fiscal year. Part of that proposal includes plans on how to spend the estimated $1 billion in surtax.
House lawmakers, including House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz, told reporters their proposal would look to make permanent the program that provides free school lunches statewide. It first became a reality in the pandemic when federal emergency funding granted it to all 50 states. Last year, Massachusetts lawmakers extended the program that is set to expire at the end of the fiscal year.
"It is absolutely critical," said Jennifer Lemmerman, who works with the anti-hunger organization Project Bread. "This program has been an enormous success in Massachusetts. What we have seen is that there has been enormous participation."
Lemmerman said between October of 2019 to 2022, an additional 80,000 students in Massachusetts started eating school meals. "We know that if this were to go away at the end of this school year, those 80,000 more kids, likely with the return of cost or stigma, would not have this resource available to them," said Lemmerman.
The House proposal equates to $161 million dollars' worth of funding for the program. That's about $10 million less than Governor Maura Healey's proposed budget is looking to provide the program.