Cafeteria Workers Say Feed Students, Not Billionaires

It’s taco day at the school cafeteria and kids’ faces at an elementary school in Lacey, Washington, light up with excited smiles as they line up for lunch. Seeing that excitement is a highlight of the job for Amanda Kinnaird, a food and nutrition professional with Washington’s North Thurston Public Schools.

“No matter what we’re serving, it’s going to be some student’s favorite lunch,” says Kinnaird. “They come in and say, ‘Oooh! It’s cheeseburgers! Or ‘Yay we’re having tater tots!’ Sure, they also grab a fruit or salad, but the star on the menu is definitely tater tots. It just brightens your day, and you can see firsthand the impact having nutritious, hot meals available makes in the life of a child.”

Historic Cuts to Food Assistance and Access to School Meals

Before long some of those students won’t have access to the nutritious meals they need to fill their hungry bodies and minds.

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be cut by an estimated $186 billion over the next decade—the largest cut in American history. The reductions will result in an estimated 18 million children losing access to free school meals.

The cut is part of the Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which passed in Congress with a vote of 51-50, requiring Vice President JD Vance to participate as the tie-breaker. 

The cuts shift the cost of school lunches to the states – a cost they can’t afford when they are already grappling with tighter budgets and substantial Republican-led Medicaid cuts. Unlike the federal government, states cannot deficit spend, so cost shifting can have devastating consequences. Twenty-three governors warned these cuts will lead to millions of Americans losing vital food assistance, including Washington Governor Bob Ferguson.

“The Trump Administration’s attacks on safety net programs like SNAP harm our most vulnerable Washingtonians, all to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans,” Ferguson said. “This is not only morally wrong, it harms Washington’s economy and puts a strain on other programs that support our kids. We will continue to protect Washingtonians from these cruel policies.”

Kids whose families received food stamps or Medicaid were automatically eligible for free meals, and schools received federal funding to provide free meals based off the percentage of low-income students they served.

Qualifying for Medicaid or SNAP means a child will automatically receive free school lunches. Some schools serving a high percentage of low-income students provide free meals to all kids through the Community Eligibility Provision, a federally funded program that allows schools serving predominantly low-income students to offer free meals through the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.

In the North Thurston district, Kinnaird says current enrollment is 14,929 and 42.43% of students qualify for free or reduced meals.

“When funding and programs are cut at the end of our state and federal funding cycle, participation will decrease and meal debt will increase,” says Kinnaird. “Research shows that students who come to school hungry lack concentration which impacts their ability to learn. Also, food insecurity can lead to students being socially withdrawn. They will be embarrassed to admit they are hungry, and don’t want to ask for food, which clearly has a direct impact on their emotional wellbeing.”

School Meal Debt Increases Along with Grocery Prices

In her work in the district’s food and nutrition department, she regularly speaks to families with meal debt and she hears the weight of that in their voices. 

“I always assure parents that, first and foremost, we will feed their child, and with regards their debt, our district does not have a mandated repayment program,” she explains. “Instead, we give that power to our families and simply ask that they make payments as and when they can, in whatever amount they can. Our district does not send families to collections, and I honestly don't know if they ever would, but it's not outside the realm of possibilities for any district to consider if faced with budget cuts, and that would be devastating.”

Student meal debt has already been increasing as families juggle rising costs of groceries and other necessities. More than half of Americans (53%) see grocery prices as a major source of stress and another 33% see it as a minor source of stress, according to a recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Meanwhile, student meal debt has grown to an average of $537 a child, according to the School Nutrition Association. 

Without direct SNAP eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals, more families will need to fill out complicated and confusing paperwork to determine if they qualify – a burden not just on struggling families but also on the staff working with the district. The time and cost of that staff time could be significant.

There are several reasons some families will decide against filling out extensive applications, Kinnaird says. There are immigration concerns, there’s a stigma and they want to avoid embarrassment, or they are concerned about their privacy.

Susan Jones, a lead food service worker at William Penn High School in New Castle, Delaware’s Colonial School District, agrees.

“You have to lay your whole life out on these forms to certify that you’re eligible, and many see it as an invasion of their privacy,” she says. “I’ve seen it before. Families won’t fill out the form not only because they are very invasive, but there are also language barriers, and now with the current political climate, people don’t want to give out personal information.”

The result? Jones says students simply won’t get in line for lunch.

“They won’t eat. They don’t want to hear you owe money or you don’t have the money, and they certainly don’t want their classmates to hear,” she says.

For Jones, it’s not just that the students will be hungry and unable to concentrate in class, but they will also miss out on the connections with the familiar faces of the cafeteria staff.

“We have important one-on-one encounters with these kids, and it means something to get that hello and smile from your lunch lady, and to know and they can get a meal, no strings attached, from someone that wants them to be well fed and able to learn,” Jones says. “In the cafeteria, we are driven by the desire to nurture – it’s all about nurture and nutrition. We feed their souls and their bellies.”

For those who want to cut funds that will prevent kids from that experience, Jones reminds them that these are the kids you’ll be living side-by-side with in your community, and we’re all better off when kids aren’t going hungry. They need to be nourished to learn, have a good education, and go on to lead productive lives.

“Let’s feed students, not billionaires,” she says.