Aguirre 1

Vianey Aguirre

Ms. Figueroa

Senior English 1

2 November 2018

Eligibility is Determining the Free in Free and Reduced lunch

School lunches are an issue because free and reduce lunch still means money being given

to the government. Students only receive free and reduced lunch if their parent’s income meet

the guidelines. School lunch is given to students who attend school. Students can eat if they

applied, but the parents are the ones who apply using their income; if a parent’s income is too

high or are poor and not a U.S. citizen then that student is not eligible for free and reduced lunch.

School lunch is becoming a problem for parents and students due to eligibility or money. School

lunch are given to students by organizations in the 1900s for the welfare of kids. School lunches

exists in the U.S. but also all over the world even with private schools. It effects the school

administrations, parents, and the students. The way the system works for school lunches has been

an issue for years but now around the year of 2012 it has escalated. The cause was unhealthy

foods being served and money becoming an issue with the income of a parent. Parents and the

food organization see this as an issue because it is concerning child welfare.

The issue with people who are against free school lunch; are saying kids should bring

their own lunch from home. Parents are also interfering in this matter by saying students who can

pay for lunch should get off the free and reduce lunch. In addition, other families are concerned

with how the schools process because they are paying too much money for free lunches and that

would be too expensive making the government pay. I think school lunches will be healthier but

not free. The reason is the government made school lunches free and reduced, so why go through
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all the trouble for free lunch? I do believe if pushing this matter to the Supreme Court it could

make a difference from free and reduce to free lunch. My call to action is to go to the school

administrations and show how this program of free and reduce lunch is taking a student’s

privilege to eat lunch because it is not free or reduce. Also, how will I do is by, taking the

administration to the cafeteria and see what they serve students who cannot afford lunch or to

visit parents of low income trying everyday feed their kids when the school is to provide for

students. I would talk to the schools about this issue and even to the government on how a family

income is how a kid becomes eligible to eat lunch which is not right. I need to show the Supreme

Court how the schools remind us on orientation day to apply for free and reduce lunch by filling

a form, but it reminds the families that not everyone is eligible due to different reasons which is

hard to bare. The government should change free and reduced lunch to free school lunch, so

every student is able to eat, and parents will not have to worry about paying for their kids to eat

lunch.

Making a change to school lunch could change the cost of families paying to reduce

lunch and help students create other possibilities. To get more schools to notice this problem

could change the way schools are selling their lunch and possibly make it beneficial to other

needs. According to Free School Meals for All, “Making entitlement universal would remove

this disincentive, and so over time could reduce child poverty more comprehensively due to the

widespread benefits of employment.” It could create the possibilities and benefits for the families

in poverty to not worry about finding ways to feed their families without jobs or money in the

near future. Eventually, helping kids and families make a difference starting with their schools as

well as the state could change more laws for the better. By paying for free and reduce lunch the

income on how much a parent makes in a year but also the size of the family is how much the
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government takes to feed the students at school. According to Charmatz, “In most states, the

threshold for a family of four is $44,955 for reduced-price meals and $31,590 for free meals.”

Money is the main issue in all this and it would cost more on the size of the family. Therefore,

when applying for free and reduced lunch it depends on the income size of a family, but this is

unfair to have to pay for lunch when it could be free for all students.

School lunch has a cost, it is not initially free there is still a fee. Schools do not see the

issue until it happens, for example school lunches are a time-consuming problem reflecting fees;

the main reason is free and reduce lunch has a cost. Charmatz said, “When parents run up debt

on the lunches, schools often have to go through debt collection to notify parents of late fees

adding even move administrative work.” This is an issue for schools when students do not pay

their fees then the schools must go through the trouble to notify the parents and that becomes a

stressful situation. While paying for fees on lunch there is still money being given to schools to

pay for the schools resources, technically parents are not just paying for lunch, but the school as

well and this is how the schools receive their supplies which is outrageous. Bloom said, “Why

pay for lunch since we are paying almost $50 for classes just so they can get supply, so lunches

should be free.” Schools would rather pay for clubs, activities and sports than pay for better food

to give to students as well as make it free. Not to mention, paying for classes to obtain the

resources is not the issue it is the fact that students should eat without having to pay in high

school and middle school. Due to the fees and debt parents worry about it becomes hard for a

student to be eligible to eat lunch everyday while in school.

Furthermore, every parent is not eligible for the free and reduce lunch form due to high

income, parents undocumented and families living in poverty. What needs to change is the

school’s administration on how they follow the rules to give students lunch that have filled the
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form to free and reduce lunch. Those who did not fill out a form are being given stigmatized cold

partial meal which is a bread with ham and milk instead of a pizza or salad which is bring served

to students who are eligible. Free School Meals For All, “Many families living in poverty are not

currently entitlement to free school meals for their children but are unable to afford to pay for a

school meal themselves.” It is true that if parents cannot pay for their child’s lunch than who can

obviously the school is too busy to pay for students’ lunch, so they chose an easy route and that

is to make lunch free and reduce but that still did not help because today it is becoming an issue.

Free and reduce lunch was created by an organization to help kids eat at ease and healthier but it

caused issues for parents because their kids are not eating due to not having money in the

accounts at school. FRAC, “Certified without tan application based on participated in other

means-tested government programs.” The government operates the reduce meals with the help of

a National Nutrition Program that does not help students with this situation but serves food to

those who received free and reduced lunch . Families who cannot afford the free and reduce

lunch have a hard time to find ways to feed their kids they rely on the school to feed their kids

with no cost, but it changed to this operation to get more money for schools and the government.

The school is doing the right thing to go with the free and reduce lunch program because

it gives kids a way to eat good food at a low cost. Parents are not the target the schools are for

sacrificing time and money to be able to help families apply for a form that will help them feed

their kids with a cost of $1.50. Charmatz says, “Parents are the ones responsible for feeding a

child… it’s not the government’s role to take care of children.” This is saying the schools are not

responsible for a parent’s child because they cannot afford lunch and the schools just agree with

the administrations while the government cannot help but watch on the sidelines. There happens

to be an issue with parents that might make free and reduce lunch useless of means to apply in
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the long run because their kids are getting older and there in no need to apply. Vignoles says,

“There is a risk that in early years, a critical period in children’s development, many parents will

no longer bother to register their child as eligible.” As students head to high school they will find

jobs which means money for them to but their own food and will no longer need to eat at school,

so there is no need to change the way lunch is being served. There is no right or wrong answer to

what the real issue is but the problem with changing free and reduce lunch will not change

anything, so it should stay the same for future students. As for the schools educating the students

at no cost makes it easier while students struggle to eat at low cost.

Students will not care if they eat free or at cost because they are not the ones paying their

parents are. With that said free or reduced does not make a difference because kids are still

eating without noticing the problems. According to Barnum, “It finds that the program did mean

more students in eligible schools received free meals, as expected.” Those who can afford to eat

lunch are using this program as expected unlike those in low income who complain about not

having money. In the real-world school lunch is not the only issue there are other problems, but

one main problem is being eligible, this situation due to income which the government and state

is not responsible for or can be helped. Vignoles, “Eligibility is also cyclical.” This is how

student get the free and reduce lunch that is if they are eligible for it but if not, then that cannot

concern the school only the parent and their income. Saying that school lunch should be free is

not necessary because it should not be changed whether a kid can eat or if a parent can afford;

the administration should not be concerned about this it is not likely they will go through with

this.

I mainly disagree with those who say schools are not responsible for student’s health

when they are responsible for their learning and wellbeing. School lunch should change to free
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lunch at no cost because it makes it easy on the families who worry if their kid have enough

money to eat lunch. Free is not a bad thing especially in schools with low balance because yes it

means sacrificing money but for the students who attend their school everyday to learn and

succeed in life. At first, I was not sure if I was opposing or against because the school already

pays for our education to learn and making school lunch a problem might be a wrong but

imaging all of those students who cannot afford to eat lunch is unfair. Changing free and reduce

lunch could help a lot of families with their situations. Without a doubt, the students will be

happy to hear that they will eat free with no cost because it is hard to ask parents for more money

and not be able to eat and starve throughout the whole day.

As a result, the government should be concerned about this matter to at least consider a

better option and secure that every student is eating every day. The free and reduce lunch caused

a problem that created a chance to change how schools operate. School lunch at a reduced price

came with a fee for the students to pay which came debt for not paying lunch. There are some

issues that were not seen and that is not every parent and student is eligible to apply due to the

same reason with money, being a citizen, and income. Taking this matter to the Supreme Court

could make a huge difference on how schools operate, and it could create other improvement in

schools with similar issues. This matter could benefit the changes that can be made if the

government and even the Supreme Court listen to the concerns of parents, students and faculties

who are concerned about this problem to make sure something can be done.
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Work cited

Barnum, Matt. “Free School Lunch for All, Meant to Reduce Stigma, May Also Keep Students

Healthier.” Chalkbeat, 4 May 2018, chalkbeat.org/posts/us/2018/05/04/free-school-

lunch-for-all-meant-to-reduce-stimga-may-also-keep-students-healthier/.

Bloom, Molly. “School Lunch: Change Lets Some Kids Eat Free Whose Parents Can Pay.”

Google, Google,

ww.google.com/amp/s/www.myajcpay/ooskW10UGe7sAtOOOZdpSI/amp.html.

Charmatz, Marl. “Should Schools Provide Free Lunches for Students?” The Tylt, the

tytl.com/culture/should-schools-provide-free-lunches-for students.

“Free School Meals for All.” Sustain, www.sustainwed.org/childrens food

compaign/free_school_meals/.

“If School Meals Are Free, How Do We Know Who Needs Help?” Google,

www.google.com/ampls/the conservation.com/amp/if-school-meals-are-free-how-do-we-

know-who-needs-help-24376.

“School Meal Eligibility and Reimbursements.” Food Research and Action century,

frac.org/school-meal-eligibility-reimbursement.