After agreeing last summer to a $110 million one-year extension of a pandemic-era program, lawmakers, advocates and families are calling for the state to make school meals free for all Massachusetts students permanently. New legislation filed by Rep. Andy X. Vargas of Haverhill and Sen. Sal DiDomenico of Everett would allow every Massachusetts student to receive free breakfast or lunch in school without providing income or other eligibility information. “We know that when kids are hungry at school they cannot learn,” Vargas said. “We know that hungry kids have problems concentrating, have lower academic achievement, suffer cognitive development impairments and exhibit more behavioral problems than their food secure peers.”
Vargas said that prior to the universal program, more than a quarter of food insecure students in Massachusetts did not qualify for free or reduced price lunch. Others who may have qualified did not apply to the program due to stigma or other obstacles, he said.