Free Lunches for all for 2026-2027 SY

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm mixed on this- I don't mind paying more to support kids who need the food, but the food quality is awful! So encouraging people to eat it because it's free? I don't know, seems wasteful. I think I would rather money go to kids who overdraw their accounts, or something?

And if they go free for all, the quality will worsen. The paid portion goes to better quality and more options.

[Anonymous]

Why should my kids get a free lunch when I can easily afford to pay for it?
I'm 100% for providing free lunch generously and making it easier for families to qualify, but I'd rather pay for lunch and talk about providing better quality food for all than make lunch free for families who don't need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The lines at the high schools are incredibly long now. What's the plan for that?

Not having to type in your code could shorten the lines.

[Anonymous]

No! I support capitalism and profiteering! Let the poor starve.

[Anonymous]

My kids love school lunch, it would save me about $50/week

[Anonymous]

No. Just no.

[Anonymous]

Wait, who is paying for this ?

I thought with the Feds were with holding that $ 1.2mil for free lunches, no?

So how much more in taxes will this cost me?? Ridiculous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much money will you saved if Virginia is able to pass free lunches for all kids?

We will mostly have all the votes, and the Governor seems to be on board. Let us know how it will help you?

Link?

[Anonymous]

There are plenty of people who can afford it. I would focus on those who don't and make sure that kids are fed healthy tasty meals. NHS advises 24g sugar/day for children aged 7 to 10, WHO talks about 35-42 g a day for elementary age range. FCPS: breakfast: Maple Belgian Waffle 15g + Juice 13g, lunch: Yogurt pack 16g, fat free chocolate milk 20g. There are better options, but those are also on the table every single day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of people who can afford it. I would focus on those who don't and make sure that kids are fed healthy tasty meals. NHS advises 24g sugar/day for children aged 7 to 10, WHO talks about 35-42 g a day for elementary age range. FCPS: breakfast: Maple Belgian Waffle 15g + Juice 13g, lunch: Yogurt pack 16g, fat free chocolate milk 20g. There are better options, but those are also on the table every single day.

Personally, I'd rather they are fed food they will actually eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of people who can afford it. I would focus on those who don't and make sure that kids are fed healthy tasty meals. NHS advises 24g sugar/day for children aged 7 to 10, WHO talks about 35-42 g a day for elementary age range. FCPS: breakfast: Maple Belgian Waffle 15g + Juice 13g, lunch: Yogurt pack 16g, fat free chocolate milk 20g. There are better options, but those are also on the table every single day.

Personally, I'd rather they are fed food they will actually eat.

I agree, but at the same time this is how the habits and preferences are formed. Can see both sides of it - I grew up eating free lunches at school, and there was no meal selection - you eat (or don't) whatever is on the plate in front of you, food was bland and sometimes (oftentimes) inedible, yet, mostly healthy-ish . I would probably prefer it this way still..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of people who can afford it. I would focus on those who don't and make sure that kids are fed healthy tasty meals. NHS advises 24g sugar/day for children aged 7 to 10, WHO talks about 35-42 g a day for elementary age range. FCPS: breakfast: Maple Belgian Waffle 15g + Juice 13g, lunch: Yogurt pack 16g, fat free chocolate milk 20g. There are better options, but those are also on the table every single day.

My son's school does chocolate milk day once a week or once a month (i forget). Do some schools have it every day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm mixed on this- I don't mind paying more to support kids who need the food, but the food quality is awful! So encouraging people to eat it because it's free? I don't know, seems wasteful. I think I would rather money go to kids who overdraw their accounts, or something?

And if they go free for all, the quality will worsen. The paid portion goes to better quality and more options.

+1
This. Quality will get worse for sure. Far better approach would have been to take thaone and instead devote it to helping buy better quality food. That would benefit ALL kids while still feeding those kids who need it.

[Anonymous]

What kind of country can’t even do the basics of feeding children? I 100% support this. It was great for so many reasons in the year after COVID. Whether a busy family working two jobs just needs a break from packing lunch or a kid is in financial need. We have a share table at our school as well which has been great. Kids drop the packaged items they don’t want and someone else always eats it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much money will you saved if Virginia is able to pass free lunches for all kids?

We will mostly have all the votes, and the Governor seems to be on board. Let us know how it will help you?

$0. My kids refuse to eat school lunch and having seen it, I do not blame them.

This. Occasionally my kids will buy a cookie or something, but that won't be free, I assume.