Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro joined Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey this month in signing state budgets that include universal free school meal programs for children. Shapiro held a signing at Millmont Elementary School in Reading. Afterward, he spoke about the $46.5 million earmark.
“When I look into the eyes of these young people, I see our future and see this as the wisest of investments we can make in a community that cares deeply for all of God's children," Shapito said. “That means that all 1.8 million Pennsylvania schoolchildren are going to have the opportunity to show up at school and get free breakfast,” he said during a visit to a separate elementary school.
In Massachusetts, Healey signed a budget allotting $172 million to make a free school lunch program that began during the COVID-19 pandemic permanent. She described it as “an investment in childhood nutrition that’s also removing a source of stress from our schools and homes.”
Massachusetts and Pennsylvania join a growing number of Democratic-controlled states including California, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, Michigan, and soon Illinois in providing universal free school lunch.
Meanwhile, Republican legislators in states like North Carolina continue to pretend they care about waste, frequently crying about “rich kids” getting a “free meal” and using bootstrappy buzzwords like “individual responsibility”—as if a child is supposed to be individually reponsible for whether or not they have the resources to eat a dependable meal every day. Hillary Clinton appeared on Rachel Maddow’s prime-time show Monday night, and she gave an easy-to-understand breakdown.
If you want a more progressive world, work on pulling your Democratic representatives to the left. The Republican Party has fallen off the boat’s right side, clutching bars of gold they are unwilling to relinquish—even to save themselves.
Sign the petition if you agree: Every child's school lunch should be free