Ohio’s GOP House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, offered arguments opposing taxpayer-funded, universal free school meals for K-12 public school students.
Huffman said that too many Ohio parents can and should pay for their child’s breakfast and lunch.
Huffman made the remarks on Wednesday after Ohio lawmakers introduced legislation to fund the program. Their opponents want the money included in the biennial state budget.
“There’s a huge amount of waste in this program,” Huffman said, according to a Statehouse News Bureau report. “I’ve been through this through the years with schools, like, ‘Do we have to give them the green beans if they’re not going to eat the green beans?’ And the answer is yes and that’s a bad idea.”
Some parents, Huffman said, don’t want their children to eat what’s provided at school.
Advocates have lobbied the Ohio General Assembly for $300 million to implement the free school meal program. CVS pharmacies and the Kroger chain of grocery stores are among the businesses behind the initiative. Both businesses are members of the Hunger-Free Schools Ohio coalition.
The bill to provide universal free meals in the Ohio Senate would cost around $297 million yearly, said sponsor state Sen. Louis “Bill” Blessing, a Cincinnati-area Republican.
Senate Bill 109 would reimburse public and chartered nonpublic schools participating in the National School Breakfast Program to cover the gap between the federal reimbursements for free and reduced-price breakfasts and lunches. It would also cover those who would be required to pay because they don’t qualify for meal assistance, Ohio Capital-Journal reports.
It’s similar to Senate Bill 342, which Blessing, R-Colerain Twp., and co-sponsor Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, introduced in the last General Assembly.
Hunger-Free Schools Ohio began organizing two years ago to advocate for a universal free meal program. It is a coalition of over 50 organizations, including the Ohio Education Association, Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, Kroger Co., and CVS Health.
According to Cleveland.com, the program would cost $300 million a year to pay for breakfast and lunch for students in public, private, and charter schools that participate in the school lunch and breakfast programs.
Students in red “Hungry Kids Can’t Learn” shirts descended on the Ohio Statehouse last week to make their case during a press conference. Some testified before the House Education Committee, which listened to lengthy testimony on the broader budget.
Ohio’s education budget could receive an estimated $23.4 billion under Gov. Mike DeWine’s biennial budget—putting the free meal program at about 2.5% of state education funds if it were to be fit in. A proposal to fund free breakfast alone would cost $50 million a year.
In the last two-year state operating budget, lawmakers directed $26.3 million over the biennium for school meals.
Democrats pushed for universal funding in the prior budget, but attempts at universal eligibility didn’t make it to the final draft. Instead, $4 million was included to extend free meals to students who qualify for reduced-priced meals for the 2023-2024 school year.
Blessing acknowledged there was pushback about paying for the state-level measure in the last operating budget. But Blessing previously told the Capital Journal it’s for the benefit of Ohio’s children and delivers on campaign issues around the costs for everyday Ohioans and Americans.
“Right, wrong or indifferent, Trump was elected because there was a cost-of-living crisis,” Blessing told the Capital Journal. “I would hope that we would deliver on this to help with that. It should matter to everyone.”
