World News

22058 readers

54 users here now

Breaking news from around the world.

News that is American but has an international facet may also be posted here.

Guidelines for submissions:

Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.

For US News, see the US News community.

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

395

Republicans Declare Banning Universal Free School Meals a 2024 Priority (newrepublic.com)

submitted 1 year ago by withersailor@aussie.zone to c/news@beehaw.org

273 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Casmael@u.fail 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Holy shit what a bunch of heartless spineless wankers :(

Imagine caring so much about corporate profits you refuse to literally feed children. ‘Governance’. What a joke.

[–] Mummelpuffin@beehaw.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Literally everyone in this comment section is missing “regardless of the individual eligibility of each student”. Everyone is getting hysterical over something that isn’t even in the cards.

Of course a lot of kids rely on free school lunches and they aren’t trying to take that away. They’re trying to restrict free lunches to kids with parents who are actually incapable of feeding them. If parents can afford food for their kids, feed your fucking kids.

[–] Spzi@lemmy.click 1 points 1 year ago

Technically a good point, but the text directly after your quote ... :

it is a meal service program reserved for qualifying schools and districts in low-income areas. The program enables schools that predominantly serve children from low-income backgrounds to offer all students free breakfast and lunch, instead of means-testing them and having to manage collecting applications on an individual basis. As with many universal-oriented programs, it is more practically efficient and, as a bonus, lifts all boats.

Yes, some free meals might go to kids whose parents, albeit from a low-income area, might be able to pay for it. But is that so much of a problem?

There are costs for checking for individual eligibility:

more administration
potential social stigma
some kids with "bad parents" who happen to be "too rich" might have no meal

I'm also unhappy this is fought on the back of the kids when it's actually about the money of the parents.