The Plain Dealer - Brown Proposes Expanded Meals Program to Cover All Students at Schools in Low-Income Areas

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The Plain Dealer - Brown Proposes Expanded Meals Program to Cover All Students at Schools in Low-Income Areas

Posted by June Q. Wu/Plain Dealer Reporter

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced legislation today that would expand access to free and reduced school meal programs nationwide to fight child hunger.

More than 700,000 children in Ohio currently participate in free and reduced meal programs. Still, the U.S.Department of Agriculture estimates that 14 percent of eligible students are not enrolled -- likely as a result of the complicated application process.

Brown's bill proposes to reduce paperwork and administration costs by having school districts use data from Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program to directly enroll students in the meal programs.

The Ohio Democrat estimates that the $2 billion legislation could feed an additional 150,000 children in Ohio and 3.5 million nationwide.

Ohio ranks 15th for the state's rate of food insecurity, which measures the number of individuals who report experiencing difficulties in providing for their families.

In order to reduce the stigma children eligible for free and reduced meals may feel, Brown is pushing for school districts that serve a high proportion of low-income families to offer all students free lunches.

The Cleveland School District was the first urban district in the Midwest to establish a universal breakfast and lunch program in 1999. Of the 52,000 students currently enrolled, 83 percent are eligible for free or reduced meals - meaning that, under federal standards, their family incomes are at or below 185 percent of the poverty level.

"President Obama cited administrative costs as a barrier to ending child hunger," Brown said, adding that his legislation would bring the nation one step closer to its goal of eliminating child hunger by 2015.

Brown said that he hopes to pass the bill in the fall when Congress renews the 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act, which covers the national school lunch program and the summer food service program among others.

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