Free Lunches for all for 2026-2027 SY

[Anonymous]

Link to where this is being proposed and says have votes to pass please. Would be interested to read more on the when/how.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

To be clear, I fully support this even though it will not make a difference to my picky eaters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

A break from packing lunches is not the same as financial need. I 100% support feeding kids in need and supporting them in other ways, but a good part of FCPS families is perfectly capable of paying for their kids food. And it comes from our taxes, not from an abstract concept of a country..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Link to where this is being proposed and says have votes to pass please. Would be interested to read more on the when/how.

Don’t see anywhere. Only seeing some prince william county schools doing this and what was done during COVID. To OP- is this just your hoping? Or if link, please provide as not finding either.

[Anonymous]

Suggest that before they do this, they check and see how much is thrown away.

I'm old and the meals at my school were terrible--my mom desperately wanted me to purchase. She came and ate one day and, after that, she understood. (Parents coming and eating in the cafeteria occasionally was a "thing."

Later, when I taught in a smaller county, every school had their own dietician. Her meals were awesome. So, it can be done. But, I don't see that happening here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid never eats the school lunch, so I'll be paying more in taxes to support this foolishness.

How is feeding kids foolish? Jeez.

[Anonymous]

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

The cashier is the bottleneck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid never eats the school lunch, so I'll be paying more in taxes to support this foolishness.

I don't mind paying taxes to feed kids. Tax me more if you need to to make the food healthy and maybe even a little appetizing.

As long as we don't hire a gaggle of DEI specialists to make sure the menu is culturally sensitive, inclusive and representative, count me in.
FCPS wastes so much money on that BS.
Just have one vegetarian option and two regular options and call it a day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

If we could just charge a per semester fee for your kid and not have to deal with daily lunch money collection, that might be better.

[Anonymous]

It's not free someone has to pay for it. I'd rather be able to have discount doordash agreement with fcps

[Anonymous]

My kid doesn't like school lunch BUT I am totally for free lunches at school. No kid should be hungry.

[Anonymous]

I'm going to go against the grain here. I think this is a terrible idea for taxpayers. The hungry kids already get free meals. My kids do not qualify for that and 100% not eat any of it, so it would be wasteful IMO.

[Anonymous]

Kids who do not eat school lunch can still bring in their own lunch, right? I assume schools would adjust how much they serve based on how much is being eaten, just as they do now. So food/money wouldn't be wasted on those kids.

The financial loss would be from kids who do eat school lunch and whose parents can afford to pay.

Imo it's worth it if that means all kids eat. Kids from families who qualify can get free lunch, sure, but the kids at risk of not eating are likely the kids who are being neglected.

I remember when the Ruby Franke story came out, there was a discussion on how her 6 year old daughter went without lunch at school. Franke put the 6 year old in charge of making her own lunch and when the kid didn't, Franke refused to bring her a lunch. The natural consequence to forgetting, she apparently said, was for the child to go hungry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to go against the grain here. I think this is a terrible idea for taxpayers. The hungry kids already get free meals. My kids do not qualify for that and 100% not eat any of it, so it would be wasteful IMO.

+1
The food quality would be even further diminished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not free someone has to pay for it. I'd rather be able to have discount doordash agreement with fcps

LOL