Typically, press releases from state representatives boasting of bringing dollars to their respective districts start something like, “Rep. Doe proudly announces $XX secured for additional municipal aid.”
As a state representative, while I am pleased to have secured significant and important funding for our 38th District in this year’s state budget, my announcement will read a bit differently as the funding I have secured calls to larger policy needs.
The funding secured in this year’s state budget for our Waterford and Montville school districts is to cover the costs of and wipe clean our students’ accumulated school meal debt.
As I have made clear while running for office, this debt burden placed on our schoolchildren is a product of policy choices. Providing universal school meals to all K-12 students was previously policy in Connecticut for two school years in the immediate wake to the COVID-19 pandemic. This universal school meal policy was already proven effective, efficient, and wildly popular. We can and we should choose to reinstate it.
While it was in effect, the program universally improved the lives of our K–12 students, while also reducing local taxes, school suspensions, stigma, and stress among students, teachers, administrators, parents, and guardians alike.
It is a policy that has demonstrated effects of improved test scores and improved health among students, all while saving families time and money, and making our classrooms more effective learning environments.
Yet we, as a state, allowed that policy to expire and, in doing so, permitted school meal debt to accumulate. It is a moral, educational, and policy failure –and especially frustrating because the solution is so obvious and has already operated effectively for two school years.
To be clear: I am thrilled to have been able to secure this funding for our school districts and grateful to our Democratic leadership for providing the funding to eliminate school meal debts in Waterford and Montville. But this issue should not be tackled in a piecemeal fashion, and certainly not after debts have accumulated.
As noted in my initial June 7, 2024 op-ed, returning to a universal school meals program would also remove hurdles for our school cafeterias. With stable student participation levels and stable funding, our school cafeterias would be able to more efficiently purchase shelf-stable items in bulk and procure healthier, local produce from Connecticut farmers.
In addition, I want to extend my sincere gratitude to Waterford Public Schools Nutrition Services Director and president of the School Nutrition Association of CT, Dianne Houlihan, and Montville Food Services Director, Carol Dodson, for working with me to secure this funding. And to thank them and all of our cafeteria and food services staff for serving the nutritional needs of our students in Waterford and Montville schools each day.
I also want to commend those parents and community members who have engaged in fundraising efforts locally to eliminate these school meal debts and call attention to this issue. Leah and Darcy Van Ness at Montville Florist, through their Nourish and Bloom effort, helped galvanize our community to address this absurd debt accumulation.
It is time for Connecticut to again and permanently adopt a universal school meals program for all of our students, paid for by fair share taxation on millionaires and billionaires in our state to ensure healthier learning environments for students and a better, fairer state for all. Indeed, we can look to our neighbor to the north, Massachusetts, which in 2023 began funding its universal meals program through fair share taxation on the ultrawealthy. Not surprisingly, the early returns on the commonwealth’s universal school meal program have been extremely positive.
Finally, much will be made of calling the program “free meals,” as though that notion alone is a bad thing. But it’s not a cost. It’s an investment – an investment in our youngest population, our students – to provide the platform for them to achieve academically and socially.
Given our increasingly expensive and time-starved lives, there should be no question about whether to continue providing a necessity as basic as food to all our school children. In an era marked by rising costs and limited time, providing something as fundamental as food to all our schoolchildren should not be up for debate. Now is the time to stand by what works for working families and ensure every child has the nourishment they need to succeed.
State Rep. Nick Gauthier of Waterford represents the 38th District, Waterford and Montville.