Back in 2010 with Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. Since then the aspect of requiring healthy school lunches has gotten all of the media's attention. Little noticed until it kicks in fully in 2014 is the "Community Eligibility Option," already operating in several cities including Boston and Atlanta. Predictably, Superintendent McGinley plans to head for the government trough as soon as she is able.
No longer will those parents seeking free or reduced breakfast and lunch need to fill out a request. No child will experience the "stigma" of being on free or reduced meals. If the community qualifies according to the law's guidelines, everybody, both rich and poor, will have free meals.
Isn't that nice? All you need do is send your child to a school in a community that meets the 40 % "poor" guidelines. Probably McGinley will designate the entire county eligible (well, it is a community). Then students who live in I'On can get free meals.
Boston claims it is saving money by not asking for applications since it no longer needs to employ couriers to pick them up and armored vehicles to pick up lunch money. I'm not making this up.
After all, it's just Other People's Money. No doubt you have often said to yourself, "Why should the rich and middle-class pay for their lunches when the poor don't!"
Saturday, September 07, 2013
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2 comments:
I have often said to myself, "Why would anyone eat a school lunch unless their parents absolutely could not afford anything else?"
Wanna bet those employed to oversee the applications will still be employed, only pushing NJM's papers somewhere else?
So, how will they determine Title One eligibility without the FRL (free and reduced lunch) applications?
Will the new program withhold food from charter school students?
Will bagged lunches be outlawed because it might compete with the vendors?
Can outsourcing the breakfast and lunch programs to a private vendor be next?
This could be a good idea except for the fact that it is ripe for abuse in the wrong hands.
Remember, NJM can be very mean, and often is. As for being "all about the children", it's not. It's about building an empire with the purse strings held by only one set of hands.
Lots of questions with no answers.
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