By james art 
Lawmakers are pushing ahead with a $29 million plan to fight hunger and boost education as critics raise concerns about funding and focus.
This article was reprinted with permission from the Virginia Mercury.
Legislation to provide free breakfast to public school students across the state is moving forward in the General Assembly with committees designed to review spending.
Sen. Danica Roim, D-Manassas, and Del. Rep. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, is leading the charge after a similar effort failed last year. The Bennett-Parker bill was held up by the House Appropriations Committee because of competing priorities, while Roehm’s Senate bill followed an amendment by Gov. Glenn Youngkin directing a task force to assess the program’s potential impact.
“Kids can’t tell if they’re hungry. This bill is an investment in their education and would maximize all other education investments we make,” Bennett-Parker said during Tuesday’s Home Education Subcommittee meeting.
Roim emphasized the importance of school breakfasts in improving attendance, an ongoing challenge after the pandemic, and noted that the proposal could also ease food debt for families.
Under Senate Bill 1003 and House Bill 1958, schools would be required to join the federal National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs administered by the USDA, offering breakfast at no cost to students who request it. Schools could only withhold meals with parental consent.
The Virginia Department of Education would control reimbursement to schools for each breakfast served under the proposed legislation, with a limit of one breakfast per student per day. The bill also eliminates an outdated provision related to the Federal Breakfast Program, streamlining the process for universal free school breakfasts.
In a shorter legislative session with a more focused scope, the bills gained strong support from groups such as the Virginia School Nutrition Association, the Virginia Education Association and No Child Hungry Virginia.
“We know that when a child shows up at school and is able to have a full belly, they’re able to learn better,” said Emily Moore, senior policy analyst for Virginia Voices for Children, during the the Jan. 16 meeting of the Senate Subcommittee on Health.
While opposition was minimal, Dr. Sheila Fourie raised concerns at the same meeting about the lack of dietary guidelines in Roem’s bill. She urged lawmakers to prioritize “high-fat, high-protein snacks” over processed foods to better support student health.
Christina Bertha, chief operating officer of the Virginia Department of Education, opposed the legislation, advocating instead for the state to encourage school divisions to adopt Community Eligibility Provisions (CEPs). She argued that CEP is a better approach to providing meals for needy students combined with leveraging available funding through a student-weighted funding formula.
“[The CEP] The program has not demonstrated universal free breakfast or meals … success in other states,” Bertha said, noting the agency detailed information on meal access in a recent task force report.
Sen. Mark Peek, R-Lynchburg, voiced his concerns last year, saying he couldn’t support the legislation when affluent localities like those in Northern Virginia can afford to pay for their students’ lunches.
“I can’t support that, and I know they’re going to say, ‘Oh, that means the old Republican wants to starve children,'” Peek said. “I don’t want to starve children, but I don’t want rich parents not to take care of their children. The money should go to the kids who need it and this doesn’t do that. “
In response, Roem argued that students in need exist in every part of the state, regardless of the wealth of their localities. She noted that even families in affluent areas can qualify for free and reduced meals.
The Department of Planning and Budget reports that the Virginia Department of Education estimates the legislation will add an annual state cost of at least $29 million beginning in 2026. in 2026 Costs associated with existing breakfast programs.
She also stressed that the measure would save families $315 per child each year.
In November, the Youngkin administration released a report estimating that providing universal free breakfast and lunch to all students would cost Virginia $201.5 million annually.
“Given these costs, concerns about the sustainability of any future program of this nature in the community, as well as the impact on local school divisions if future state funding were to be reduced or eliminated, must be considered.” , the report noted. “Once funding is secured, any removal of that state funding would cut back on expected services for families, thereby creating an unfunded mandate and burden on local school divisions.”
Roim criticized the administration’s approach, arguing that it “missed the call” by confusing universal breakfast and lunch programs. She noted that while the report identified eight states with universal meal programs — California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Vermont and Minnesota — it left out Pennsylvania, a split-government state that implements offering free breakfast.
“If Pennsylvania can do it, there’s no reason Virginia can’t,” Roim said, adding that he believes the commonwealth is in a better financial position to support such a measure.
The breakfast bills have advanced out of the Senate and House education committees and now head to their respective budget committees for consideration.