Executive Summary

Here is a statement that all in Hawaiʻi should agree on: No keiki should go to bed hungry. Yet the shocking fact is that one out of every three children in the islands struggles with hunger. To put it another way, five children in an average classroom of 15 go to bed hungry each night in Hawaiʻi. This is despite: 

• Robust national child nutrition programs that provide healthy, low-cost or free meals to children across the nation; 

• Annual appropriations of between $23 million and $28 million by the State Legislature for the Hawaiʻi Department of Education’s School Food Services Branch (SFSB); and

• School and children’s programs that offer other meals and snacks that rely on grants, subsidized labor or donations to stay financially afloat.  

Hawaiʻi ranks near or at the bottom of all states and U.S. territories in taking advantage of federal child nutrition programs, including those providing after school suppers, breakfasts, or summer meals. In fact, since 2000, Hawaiʻi has spent over $200 million to supplement the federal funding that supports child food programs. 

Schools and organizations who participate in these programs are reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for each qualifying meal served. Hawaiʻi’s rate of reimbursement is set by the federal government and has not been adjusted for over 40 years, other than for inflation. In that time span the gap between mainland and Hawaiʻi food prices has increased dramatically. 

In addition, with the signing of Act 175 of 2021, the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education is committed to buying more fresh, locally-sourced food, benefiting the health of Hawaiʻi’s students while helping to strengthen Hawaiʻi’s food production market and its resilience.

While current federal reimbursement rates do take into account Hawaiʻi’s high cost of living (allowing for a 17 percent increase over mainland rates), this report shows that Hawaiʻi’s reimbursement rate should actually be 62 percent higher than mainland rates based upon current cost-of-living differences. 

Moreover, reimbursement and keiki participation rates will continue to fall further below the true cost of such programs—costs that must be made up by the state or those schools and organizations taking part in the federal programs. In addition, the problem of inadequate reimbursement has been exacerbated by recent improvements to nutritional standards for qualifying school meals that increases their costs and, in some instances, the cost of their preparation as well.    

In 2025, the USDA is scheduled to complete its formal School Nutrition Meal Cost Study-II, after which it may increase Hawaiʻi’s reimbursement rates for federal child nutrition programs. 

Unfortunately, Hawaiʻi cannot wait three years or longer for that to happen. Child nutrition programs are one of the best defenses we have to fight hunger, and are often a child’s sole source of balanced meals during the day. However, every day, more funding is lost and, each year, sponsoring organizations drop out of the programs. This leaves fewer children who rely on these meals able to get the proper nutrition their growing bodies need. 

As a state that takes pride in our support and care for our families and keiki, we cannot let this shortcoming stand as it presently exists. The reimbursement level for schools and sponsors of the programs must be increased as soon as possible, through an emergency federal waiver, supplementary funding from the state, and/or congressional support for faster future adjustments to Hawaiʻi’s reimbursement rate.

Hawaiʻi needs to do this—for the sake of our children.