The state Agency of Education on Tuesday once again opposed S.100, a bill that would provide free meals to all K-12 students in Vermont.
Just days after the Senate tabled the bill in favor of an expansion of income-based eligibility for free meals, the agency urged lawmakers to block the proposal.
Increasing the number of students eligible for free meals would still be expensive, according to Rosie Krueger, the state director of child nutrition programs at the education agency.
Krueger told members of the Senate Committee on Education that setting new income-based eligibility thresholds would be difficult to implement and would do little to address the stigma facing kids who avail themselves of free meals.
“You’re making things more complicated. You’re not getting any of the benefits of universal meals, and you’re still costing $12 million a year,” Krueger said.
As a compromise, Krueger proposed an alternative plan: universal breakfasts.
The measure would cost between $6 million and $10 million a year, be much simpler to implement, and could provide the benefits of a universal program, she said.
“You get a lot of the attendance benefits that you would get from universal meals. So kids show up to school on time more, because they know they’re one, they’re getting breakfast. So there’s an incentive,” Krueger said. “And two, there’s not that rushing around at home trying to get breakfast together.”
On Friday, the Senate voted to “let the bill lie” — which typically means the legislation is dead for the session. But soon after the floor action, Senate President Pro Tempore Becca Balint, D-Windham, said the legislation would be revived.
“We fully anticipate to be able to call it back up and vote it out next week,” she said last week. “That’s still the plan.”
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