Why Should Delaware Care?
In Delaware, an estimated 37,680 children deal with food insecurity. Despite ongoing tension surrounding free school meals in the state, which some say has led to a rare sanction against a lawmaker within their own Democratic Party, free school breakfasts are now working their way through the legislature.
Free school breakfasts could become a reality for all students in Delaware public schools, regardless of need, after a bill that would expand the program’s eligibility passed through the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.
The action follows a change to House Bill 91 that amended it from one that would expand free school lunches and breakfasts to students from poor and middle-class households, to one that focuses solely on free breakfasts for all kids.
The sponsor of HB 91, Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton), said the change was made because the original version had a high fiscal note. The revised bill was more affordable and didn’t require any new funding, she said, since the state used existing money already in the budget.
It also follows turmoil over the past month within the Democratic House caucus between lawmakers who had sponsored competing bills to expand free school lunches.
During a committee meeting Tuesday, Williams called her legislation a “cost-effective measure” that would assist more families with food insecurities, as it would provide students at 83 eligible schools with universal breakfast.
Currently, the federal government covers the cost of free breakfast for schools where at least 40% of students are from lower income families through a program known as the Community Eligibility Provision. Under HB 91, the state government would pick up the cost of the program for any school that doesn’t qualify under the federal program.
Currently, only students of families with incomes at or below 130% of the poverty limit receive free meals.
According to a fiscal note from a similar bill, the breakfast program would cost between $10 million and $11 million a year. One breakfast for one student is estimated to cost $1.98 to $2.45, while lunch is estimated to cost $4.01.
School meal advocate Lisa Quigley testified that free school breakfasts result in healthier kids, better attendance, and higher test scores.
Quigley works for an entity called Tusk Philanthropies, which is related to the political marketing company Tusk Strategies – a company that deployed more than $1 million in political spending last year to benefit Gov. Matt Meyer.
No opponents to the legislation spoke during the Tuesday committee meeting.
The progress of Williams’ bill comes even as competing legislation, House Bill 125, has failed to advance through the legislature. That bill, sponsored by Rep. Sherae’a Moore (D-Middletown) would provide all school meals to all students free of charge.
Several legislators expressed reservations about a $141 million fiscal note attached to Moore’s bill, meaning it would cost that amount over three years.
Spotlight Delaware previously reported that the two school meals bills became a point of contention between Moore and Williams for political reasons.
Tensions were inflamed publicly on May 13 when House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown stripped Moore of her position as the vice chair of the House Education Committee.
Minor-Brown said she made the move in response to questions surrounding Moore’s teaching credentials, pointing to a News Journal report published last month that said she was among 450 public school teachers working in Delaware with expired or missing licenses.
But Moore told Spotlight Delaware then that she believed her removal from the Education Committee is rooted in what she described as a growing animus between her and Williams.
“It is 1,000% about the school lunch bills,” Moore said last month.
For her part, Williams said last month that she didn’t believe Minor-Brown’s decision was related to the school meals bills.
In an interview with Spotlight Delaware on Tuesday, Moore said she is “encouraged” to see her colleagues support initiatives like free school breakfasts, and that she will be continuing her own work toward universal free school meals.
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