State lawmakers have not passed a budget, which puts funding for Michigan’s free school meals program in question after September 30th.
Despite this, Michigan State Superintendent Michael Rice urged local districts last week to continue providing free meals as school begins, citing the health, attendance, and performance benefits students receive from no-cost meals.
Even when the state does eventually have a budget, the program could still face cuts. House Republicans have proposed a $200 million cut to the meal program, according to MLive.
But not all school districts would be affected if funds are cut or a budget does not pass.
Kimberly Carter is the superintendent of Battle Creek Public Schools. She said the district provides free meals through a federal program called the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP.
While this alleviates any dependency on Michigan's program for Battle Creek, Carter said the state program is still important.
"The Michigan free meals program came in to kind of supplement those districts who didn't qualify, because CEP was not available to every district," Carter said.
“I'm very proud of the Michigan Department of Education's efforts to kind of create universal access across the entire state to free meals. And that's what the Michigan free meals program was doing. It's necessary, it's needed, and it came in and filled in the gap.”
She added the state program could also come to benefit BCPS in the future.
“I don't doubt that we still need to advocate for the continuation of the Michigan School Meals program because that is something that may come into account as the federal funding disappears.”
Unlike BCPS, Benton Harbor Area Schools is one of many districts that participate in Michigan's meal program.
Despite this, Food Service Director Quinn Tabbert is confident in the district's ability to provide free meals this school year, as it also participates in CEP.
"We do not anticipate any impact on our ability to provide free meals to students if the proposed statewide free meals program does not pass," she said.
Kalamazoo Public Schools said it will also continue to provide free meals to students regardless of what happens in the state budget.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
