Photo: DNY59 / E+ / Getty Images
BOSTON (State House News Service) - Some school districts are holding off on placing food orders and hiring kitchen staff for the academic year that starts in a month, waiting for top Democratic lawmakers to resolve whether the state will pay for universal free school meals.
The Legislature is nearly a month overdue on their budget for the fiscal year that started on July 1, and among other spending and policy items held up in negotiations, is $161 million the House earmarked for free breakfast and lunch for every student in Massachusetts public schools.
And despite the 27-day delay, Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday gave lawmakers an even longer runway to come to an agreement.
The House and Senate both swiftly passed an interim budget that Healey filed on Thursday morning, which means negotiators have through the end of August to finalize their annual spending -- butting up against the start of the school year. It's unclear exactly how long lawmakers actually need.
The House is seeking to make the pandemic-era program permanent by funding it from a newly-available pot of money from a surtax on high earners.
Though there is broad agreement among representatives around the desire to keep offering free meals, the Senate and Healey suggested extending the program for another year in a standalone bill rather than as part of the budget -- though neither of them have put forward legislation to do this.
But as lawmakers hash it out behind closed doors, school districts are left in limbo.
"There's a lot of planning in schools that goes on in the summertime," said Tracy Novick, a field director for the Massachusetts Association of School Committees and Worcester School Committee member. "Districts are trying to figure out how much food we're going to need, and that's really on hold right now."
Superintendents said in June that by extending the pandemic-era program last year, 80,000 more students ate lunch in October 2022, in schools that previously did not serve free meals to all, than in October 2019.
"It makes a really big difference for how many meals schools are serving," Novick said. "By removing the potential stigma of being one of those kids who gets free lunch makes a huge difference in how many people are taking those meals ... that might make a huge difference for some districts in terms of if you can actually serve all students."
Novick said some districts are also unsure of how many nutrition staff to hire for the upcoming academic year. If they are serving more children, she said, they will need more people working in the kitchen.
There's uncertainty for families too, said Mary Bourque, co-executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents.
"Our superintendents are pretty experienced in putting in safety nets for the what-if conditions, but even more importantly, what's the impact on our parents and guardians and families?" Bourque said. "There are families in our districts who are living paycheck to paycheck. Even this small shift of whether they need to buy breakfast and lunch is so important for them."
House leaders say the program saves families as much as $1,200 per child every year.
"Having spent 12 years in a classroom, I can't stress how important this is, to know that every student in Massachusetts will not go to school hungry or spend a school day without anything to eat has to ease the mind of all the teachers out there who have to face these kids who can't focus because they left the house without breakfast," House Speaker Ron Mariano, a former teacher, said. "I don't think we can stress that enough."
But the House-sponsored program takes up a significant chunk of the new $1 billion pot specifically earmarked for education and transportation spending, available for the first time this year after voters passed a new 4 percent surtax on household income above $1 million per year.
Both chambers planned to split the new fund 50-50, with $500 million going toward education and transportation initiatives, equally. The House's $161 million proposal for free school lunches would take up about a third of this education funding, and the Senate has other ideas for that money.
Senators passed a budget with $125 million of surtax funds going toward higher education capital funding, $100 million for expanding financial aid programs at state universities, $100 million for the Massachusetts School Building Authority Capital Supports for districts facing high project costs due to inflation, as well as other investments -- none of which include the school meals funding.
Asked in May about the exclusion of the policy in the Senate's version of the budget, Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues answered, "We feel that we should best address this, as the governor proposed, in a future supplemental budget."
But this week the Senate passed a supplemental budget that did not include funding for the policy, even as the school year is ticking closer.
A Senate Ways and Means spokesperson did not respond to questions about why the policy was not included in the recent supplemental budget.
Asked by reporters about the time-sensitive nature of education policies in the budget, House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said on Thursday, "they're all time sensitive."
"You have to ask each individual agency, you ask each individual nonprofit that relies on the workings of the budget, I think they'll all say it's time sensitive and necessary," Michlewitz said. "So, you know, we are cognizant of that and certainly mindful that we want to make sure that we get this done as quickly as possible."
Healey also sought to fund the universal school meals program for another year through a supplemental budget, but has not filed any.
"Having that insurance that your kid is going to get breakfast at school, going to get lunch at school, makes a huge difference for families. And not knowing that is huge for districts right now," Novick said. "School districts knowing what the state funding is, as early as possible, allows us to do a better job of serving kids. And the tighter that timeframe becomes, the more difficult that becomes."
Written By Sam Drysdale/SHNS
Follow WBZ NewsRadio: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | iHeartmedia App | TikTok