By Carol Schmitz-Corken

In response to the column “No Use for Free Lunch for Students,” here are a few facts for rebuttal:

1.     The Universal breakfast and lunch program coming to Rowan County at the start of the school year is a federally funded program- it has nothing to do with your increase in property taxes.  Rowan Salisbury Schools diligently worked on the application and provided the documentation needed to qualify for this program.  Here is a link to a fact sheet provided by USDA. https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/cn/CEPfactsheet.pdf

2. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications. Instead, schools that adopt CEP are reimbursed using a formula based on the percentage of students categorically eligible for free meals based on their participation in other specific means-tested programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

3.     Rowan County does have a fair amount of wealth, but actually 1 in 5, or 20 percent of residents in Rowan County live at or below the poverty level. This figure is based on a snapshot from ncchild.org. So 77 percent of our public-school population qualifies for free or reduced lunch. (Based on Fall, 2022)

4.   Free breakfast and lunches for school children have several benefits:

•       Reduces food insecurity, obesity rates, and poor health.
•       Ends school food stigma.
•       Terminates “lunch shaming.”
•       Eliminates lunch debt.
•       Removes a significant administrative burden.
•       Improves the meals.
•       Speeds up the lines, giving students more time to eat.
•       Promotes student health.
•       Improves cognitive function, short-term memory, the ability to conceptualize, and abstract reasoning skills.
•       Increases test scores, especially in math and IQ tests.

https://frac.org/blog/top-10-reasons-to-support-free-healthy-school-meals-for-all

5.     Get a job?  It’s not that easy.  $12 x 40 hours x 52 weeks a year = $24,960. And that is before taxes.  The poverty level for a family of 3 (mom and 2 kids) is $23,000.  Food, transportation, rent, utilities — the list goes on and on.
6.     Poverty is not an easy cycle to break out of.  Maybe, with the advantage of two nutritious meals in their stomachs, students will perform better in school and grow up to break the cycle.  Children are our future. It is our responsibility as a society to protect them and nurture them in every way possible.
7.     It is obvious that you don’t know any public-school teachers.  Like other public employees, such as police officers and firefighters, it is not about the money.  It is about making a difference and helping others.  Assuming that teachers and administrators want a free meal for their own children is insulting and demeaning. 
8.     My suggestion to you is to get out there and get to know our students and our struggling population here in Rowan County.  Volunteer at your local school, help out at Rowan Helping Ministries, talk to some of our agencies in Rowan that help those less fortunate.  We are all human beings, and while some of us have had a family to support and encourage us, not everyone has had that benefit.  Let’s try something different to try to make a difference.

Carol Schmitz-Corken is president of the Rowan Food and Farm Network.