Hawaiʻi was ahead of many states when it passed a law in 2017 prohibiting schools from denying students meals for failure to pay off their balances before a grace period expired. No grace period existed before that time.

But since 2017,  the recent Child Trends report noted 11 states around the country have passed laws that address access to school meals “in a supportive way,” such as requiring schools to provide meals to all students regardless of their ability to pay.

“Now that other states have much stronger laws on the books, we might try and start a discussion about this,” in Hawaiʻi, said Nicole Woo, senior policy analyst at the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice.