Education policy wonks often complain that schools don鈥檛 get enough discussion in presidential campaigns. So it鈥檚 unusual that some of the Democrats seeking their party鈥檚 2020 nomination are focused on something even more specific鈥攕chool lunch.
Several candidates have shared viral stories about 鈥渓unch shaming,鈥� the practice of refusing to provide a student with a hot school lunch because of unpaid meal debt. Most recently, they tweeted a story about a 9-year-old boy who with allowance money he鈥檇 saved up.
Some used their tweets to generally lament child poverty and hunger, and some called for unspecified reforms to school meal programs, even if they haven鈥檛 yet added such proposals to their policy platforms.
Some, like Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Juli谩n Castro, used the stories to promote their education plans, which call for universal free meals nationwide.
What those tweets didn鈥檛 acknowledge was that many schools and districts already offer universal free meals, that a majority of students who eat school lunches qualify for free meals, and that school cafeteria workers say it鈥檚 not always poverty that leads to unpaid meal accounts. I dug into those issues in this quick school lunch debt explainer.
The policy responses to poverty are often complicated and nuanced鈥攍ike changes to the way low-income housing vouchers are distributed, how school funding is allotted, and the way poverty itself is measured.
But the lunch-shaming stories, which have long gone viral without the attention of presidential candidates, provide an opportunity to link an issue that resonates with regular people to the policy that might address it in a way that鈥檚 ... digestible.
It is a sad state of affairs when this is considered a heartwarming story. Ryan is so thoughtful and generous -- but let this be a reminder to us all: we must reform our school lunch programs. No child should ever go hungry.
-- Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris)
鈥淪chool lunch debt鈥� should not exist in the wealthiest country in the history of the world.
When we are in the White House, we are going to provide year-round, free universal school meals.
-- Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders)
It shouldn鈥檛 take the charity of a nine-year-old to feed our school children. Let鈥檚 applaud Ryan, then let鈥檚 do something to make sure this never has to happen again.
-- Juli谩n Castro (@JulianCastro)
30 million students participate in the National School Lunch Program -- instead of shaming our children for their lunch debts, we need to tackle the problem of food insecurity in America.
-- Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg)
Bonnie gave a free lunch to a student who couldn鈥檛 afford it...and was fired for it. But look how the universe conspired to support her.
-- Cory Booker (@CoryBooker)
Photo: AP Photo/Mary Esch, File