Supporters of the state’s universal school meals program said during a Statehouse press conference on Thursday that Scott’s plan to slash the popular program makes no sense. It would only shift the cost of feeding kids back onto mostly middle-class families that can ill afford the additional expense, they said.
Legislative leaders have been telegraphing for weeks that they weren’t fans of the school meals piece of the governor’s plan to keep property taxes flat next year. His other proposal involves transferring $77 million in general fund dollars to the state education fund.
Thursday’s event was the strongest signal yet that Democratic lawmakers have no intention of killing a program that feeds kids and supports local farmers.
Scott says that while the program is well intentioned, it seems wrong for families who can afford their kids’ lunches to get a free ride. The result, he argues, is that property tax payers are subsidizing free meals for rich kids. Scott favors returning to the pre-pandemic system under which only low-income kids get free meals, paid for primarily by the feds.
Democrats counter that reverting to the pre-pandemic system is unfair and counterproductive. They point to the estimates from the Joint Fiscal Office, the state’s nonpartisan number crunchers, that estimate it would cost an extra $103,000 for districts to administer a restored price-based program.
They say there would be costs associated with reinstalling cash registers in school cafeterias, reestablishing a billing system and collecting from parents.
They also note that local farmers could also lose revenue if a program that uses fresh local milk and produce is eliminated and more families send their kids to school with other fare or none at all. The advocacy group Hunger Free Vermont estimates the program saves families of children who use it about $1,500 per year per child in food costs.
“How is this program even up for debate?” Rep. Heather Suprenant (D-Barnard) asked.
