WI: Democrats highlight Evers' free school meals budget proposal
Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly and Democratic lawmakers renewed calls on Monday for Wisconsin to provide free school meals to all students, which they say would improve student wellbeing and academic outcomes, ease financial burdens for families and support Wisconsin’s local economies.
Underly, state lawmakers and other stakeholders highlighted the proposal along with two other provisions included in Gov. Tony Evers’ two-year budget proposal meant to invest in school meals at a breakfast press conference — which featured fresh yogurt parfaits — in the Cottage Grove Elementary School cafeteria.
“When I was a teacher, when I was elementary school principal, the Monday morning after the weekend or after break, you would see kids lining up outside the school waiting for it to open, just so that they could get their breakfast because for many kids, this is the only full meal that they will have,” Underly said. “We have to get behind feeding kids. I don’t understand how we could not.”
Evers’ budget proposal would dedicate $120 million in the second year of the budget to creating the “Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids” program, which would provide free school breakfast and lunch for all Wisconsin students, regardless of income levels.
“We know that not only does student health and academic achievement improve, but we also know that we can put a lot of more dollars back into our local food and farm economies and we can save time and energy of parents and other caregivers, who might be packing lunches for their students, and we can create a lot better environments in terms of school climates, when all students are participating in school lunch programs,” Jennifer Gaddis, a professor at UW-Madison, said at the press conference.
https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2023/03/07/democrats-highlight-evers-free-school-meals-budget-proposal/
