Free Lunch for All After All

That didn't take long. 

Via The Urbanist:

Councilmembers Reverse Course After Backlash 

to Universal School Meal Delay

The day after voting to delay the program, the Seattle City Council is moving to ensure students attending K-12 public schools in Seattle will be able to enjoy universal school meals starting this fall. 

That would mean the amendment that was offered by several City Council members would postpone universal meals for a year so they can fund a food voucher program for weekends and school breaks for students who already are qualified for free school meals. 

They state that Mayor Wilson wants to pay for it out of the FEPP (Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise ) levy. But that could change in a couple of years.

The Washington State Legislature is planning to use revenue from the newly passed millionaires tax, assuming it survives the legal and electoral challenges against it, to fund universal school meals for all public school students in the state. However, this program is not slated to begin until the 2028-2029 school year. Wilson’s plan bridges this gap at a time when kids are facing increasing food insecurity due to the U.S. Congress slashing food assistance programs last year.

"When the Trump administration cut SNAP benefits and threatened thousands of families' ability to put food on the table, it made clear how much our neighbors are depending on us to step up,” Wilson said in a statement. “That is what drove me to make universal school meals a priority in the FEPP Levy Implementation and Evaluation Plan. K-12 education is free and universal, and the nutrition a child needs to show up ready to learn should be no different.”

but

In general, however, the chance to begin the universal school meal program immediately was pitted against funding food vouchers for low-income students. Councilmembers supporting the amendment said this was actually a “Yes, and” proposal because the universal meal program was being postponed instead of outright cut. 

Comments from the meeting

Particularly noteworthy was the comment given by Elmer Dixon, the co-founder of the Seattle branch of the Black Panthers and original coordinator of their breakfast program, who spoke in favor of the amendment. 

“[The breakfast program] was about feeding the oppressed and the most needy,” Dixon said. "It would have been ludicrous for us to take a breakfast program out to Laurelhurst. And so, that was the intent of that breakfast program. That should be the intent of this feeding program.”

To Mr. Dixon's point, I think it might be good to think of this universal program as a pilot program. Is it worth paying for meals for all OR using the money to make sure low-income students get food on the weekends?

To note:

In spite of many commenters talking about the waste of feeding students who might not be hungry, the implementation of the program is not so rigid. The City of Seattle will only be charged for meals served to students, which means that wealthy students can easily opt out of school meals without costing the City a penny. 

Foster said the City is currently investing $537,732 annually in programs that provide students with food access on weekends and during school breaks. The new program proposed by her and Hollingsworth will more than double this investment by adding $654,000 annually.  

The Mayor said:

“Now Council is proposing to pull this funding from our general fund, which is already facing a $175 million deficit,” Wilson said in a statement. “I look forward to seeing which critical services they plan to cut from the general fund to make their numbers work. I ask them to reconsider the fiscally responsible approach my office originally put forward.” 

The Urbanist states that all seven district Councilmembers are up for election next November. 

The new proposal is scheduled for a discussion and vote in the Finance, Native Communities, and Tribal Governments Committee at 9:30am on Tuesday, August 4.