Published Friday, April 29, 2005 in East Valley Opinions of the Arizona Republic as “All-Day K sure, but no lunch.”
You’ve heard there’s no free lunch. Well, if Republican leaders in the state legislature get their way, the price of all day Kindergarten for at risk youngsters may be their lunch. Legislators are endangering access to federally subsidized meals for thousands of low-income kids, while offering crème-de-la-crème-puff tax credits for corporations to feast on.
Governor Janet Napolitano has made funding all day Kindergarten a top budget priority. Last session, with a few renegade moderate Republicans siding with Democrats the state began funding all day Kindergarten if 90 percent of students qualify for free or reduced priced lunches. This year the Governor wants to extend it to schools above 80 percent.
Since the November election, many of those moderates have been removed from office, so Republican leadership aims to get a budget that can be passed with just Republicans—16 of 18 in the Senate and 31 of 38 in the House.
On the surface one might be perplexed why legislators would use a federally funded program to undercut all day Kindergarten, but the goal here is to make the price of all day Kindergarten so high that schools will choose not to participate or be disqualified. The result will be a new weight loss plan for low-income kids, not much food for lunch. Currently children coming from households with less than 130 percent of the federal poverty line ($24,505 for a family of four) qualify for lunch paid for by the federal government. Students from households with up to 185 percent of the poverty line ($34,873 for a family of four) get lunch for only 40 cents. Many of these children also receive free or reduced price breakfast. In return schools need to meet minimum nutrition standards set by the federal government, and they get access to surplus foods. Read the rest of this entry »