Ohio Governor Signs Budget Including No-Cost School Meals
(Photo courtesy of Ohio News Connection/Adobe Stock)
Nadia Ramlagan
More Ohio students who qualify for reduced-priced meals will now be able to eat breakfast and lunch at school, even if their families cannot pay for it, thanks to a provision in the $191 billion, two-year state budget recently approved by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine.
Since March 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has provided waivers to schools, allowing them to serve meals at no cost to all students. The waivers expired at the end of last school year.
Katherine Ungar, senior policy associate for the Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio, said ensuring kids have access to daily healthy meals sets them up for academic success.
“We’re very encouraged that lawmakers restored investments in school meals for more Ohio children,” Ungar stated. “What this means is that it will allow all students who qualify for reduced price meals to now access these meals at no cost.”
According to Children’s Defense Fund Ohio, this past school year, more than 90 million breakfasts and more than 171 million lunches were served under the federal no-cost meal waivers.
Ungar noted while there are many positives, the final budget does not include free school meals for all kids or an expansion of Medicaid coverage for pregnant women and children.
“While we saw progress from where the budget was in the Senate, and we do want to celebrate those steps forward,” Ungar acknowledged. “There’s still many areas where work has been left unfinished, and our children are left unprioritized.”
Will Petrik, project director for Policy Matters Ohio, said lawmakers did increase investments in childcare and preschool, which he noted will benefit Ohio’s working parents.
“Our primary purpose really, is to have a final state budget, where every Ohioan can live a happy, healthy life, no matter their race, gender, or ZIP code,” Petrik explained.
According to the Century Foundation, it is estimated more than 3 million children nationwide and more than 134,000 in Ohio will lose access to child care this fall.