Inside the push to make school meals free in Hawaiʻi

With free meals gone, schools across the country have accumulated more than $19 million in unpaid meal debt — money schools would have been paid by families — during the current school year, according to a survey from the School Nutrition Association.

Daniela Spoto, director of anti-hunger programs at Hawaiʻi Appleseed, said school meal debt in Hawaiʻi was abnormally high last November at more than $90,000.

Spoto said Matayoshi’s proposed bill has good intentions but raised concerns about whether it would include public charter schools, if the state will take advantage of federal dollars, and how long the program to offer free school meals would last.

Nicole Woo, director of research and economic policy at Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network, said offering free lunch would cost the state an estimated $26.7 million per year based on participation rates from the 2018-19 school year. Offering free breakfast and lunch would cost $31.4 million.

Matayoshi said he’s waiting for the DOE to give him the annual cost of providing free school lunches.