No Utah child should be left hungry.
That’s a sentiment with support from both sides of the aisle in the Legislature as two bills aim to make free meals more accessible to public school students.
“People have lots of different challenges in life,” said Republican Rep. Tyler Clancy. “But if you're hungry, you have one problem.”
For kids, going hungry can mean more than just a rumbling stomach. According to a 2015 report published in the journal Paediatrics & Child Health, food insecurity in kids is linked to higher rates of chronic illness, obesity and depression.
“Especially children that don't have the ability to emotionally regulate, if they're in kindergarten or first grade, we're asking them to try and learn reading, writing or math, but they haven't eaten breakfast or lunch,” Clancy said.
One in six Utah children faces food insecurity, according to 2022 data from Feeding America. The Utah State Board of Education offers federally-funded nutrition programs like the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs, which provide free and reduced-price meals to eligible students based on household income.
However, schools struggled to meet the needs for these programs in 2024. Even with nearly $375 million in federal and state funding, the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation reported school districts amassed $2.67 million in outstanding lunch debt as of July 2024. In September, Gov. Spencer Cox redirected $1.2 million in COVID relief funds to help schools pay off the balance. As food funds struggle to meet the needs of Utah’s public schools, lawmakers are proposing ways to tackle the issue.
Free breakfast and lunch for eligible children
“It all starts with the premise that we know hungry kids can't learn, and so we want to target those students,” Clancy said.
He’s the sponsor of HB100, which instead of the current meal program’s reduced-price option, would make breakfast and lunch free for all qualifying students. Clancy said it would give extra support to families who fall in the reduced-price category, which is where a lot of annual school lunch debt and child hunger occurs.
“These are families that don't qualify for other assistance programs,” Clancy said. “But yet, they're at the bottom of the rung of the middle class to where maybe five years ago, they'd be OK. But the past couple years, groceries are getting tighter.”
The bill would also extend meal benefits over the summer and prohibit schools from publicly identifying students enrolled in these programs.
“The other piece is kind of that shame or stigma. So students that do qualify for some of these programs, but they're not wanting to participate,” he said. “We want to eliminate that and make sure that there aren't barriers to the programs we've already funded.”
This isn’t the first time Clancy has worked to expand free meals. He put together a funding request ahead of the 2024 Legislative Session, but the proposed $4 million was not included in the state budget. Since then, he’s worked to educate his colleagues on the realities of hunger in Utah.
“There's an economic piece to this that I think is important to make sure that our money is being spent wisely in the broader sense of public education, but there's also just the human element of recognizing that food insecurity is real,” he said.
HB100 has been assigned to the House Education Committee for further consideration.
Make breakfast and lunch free for all children
Senate Minority Leader Luz Escamilla wants an all-encompassing take on the problem. Her bill, SB173, seeks to provide free breakfast and lunch to every child in Utah’s public schools, regardless of economic means, unless their guardian decides to opt-out.
“I think it's important that as a state, we acknowledge that a good public policy is to have all children under the care of the state during their education, from K to 12 where they're mandated to be educated, to not have to deal with hunger while they're in that educational journey,” Escamilla said.
States like California, Colorado, New Mexico and Michigan have all passed legislation to create universal free school meals programs.
But a program like this comes with a price tag. According to the bill’s fiscal note, it would take over $160 million in ongoing funding. Escamilla said this number does not account for parents who choose to pay for their kids' meals.
The program’s cost worries Republicans. During a Senate Education Committee meeting on Feb. 13, Republican Sen. David Hinkins noted that many high school students leave campus for meals.
Republican Sen. John Johnson, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, worried about funding students who simply don’t need meal programs.
“I have a hard time thinking that all of my neighbors would actually qualify for free school lunches,” Johnson said. “I don't think that's fair to taxpayers.”
He said he intends to support Clancy’s bill.
The Senate Education Committee voted to hold the bill during its Feb. 13 meeting. Escamilla said she plans to work on the bill’s financial components over the summer.
“My goal is that we as a state can get to a point where we can quantify the cost of providing all children with quality of life during that time that the state is working in conjunction with the parents and providing the infrastructure for them to succeed,” she said.
Elle Crossley is an intern with Amplify Utah and KUER covering the Utah State Legislature and other local news.
