Latest news with #HB100
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Cox signs bill expanding Utah's school lunch program for struggling families
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox remembers visiting a public school in Layton a couple of years ago where many of the students and their families were facing rough economic times. The principal showed the governor a pantry inside the school stocked with food for the kids to take home. The extra food, the principal explained, was helping the children satisfy an essential education resource: Basic nutrition and sustenance. The principal then added something Cox has not forgotten: 'Kids can't learn when they're hungry. … Kids can't learn when their thoughts are elsewhere.' That compassionate impulse to feed and educate Utah's kids is at the heart of House Bill 100, said the governor. Cox, lawmakers and community advocates for fight against hunger gathered Tuesday at the Utah State Capitol to sign, ceremoniously, the bill passed during the recent Legislative session to provide school lunch at no cost to eligible students. HB100, said Cox, 'Isn't just about providing school lunch — it's about helping kids learn, and kids can't learn when they're hungry.' HB100 expands the number of Utah's K-12 students eligible to receive free school lunch — while shielding participating kids from embarrassment and also aiming to reduce food waste. A trio of provisions highlight HB100: First, all K-12 students currently eligible for 'reduced price' meals will be moved to the 'no cost' classification for the lunchtime meal. School breakfast is not included in the bill. Second, protecting kids receiving free school lunch from embarrassment. And third, limiting food waste by encouraging schools to expand lunch period times while implementing 'shared tables' where students can return, say, sealed or unopened food items to be consumed by others. Eliminating the 'reduced price threshold' is a defining element of HB100, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, and Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy. The new legislation will reportedly provide no-cost meals for approximately 40,000 currently classified as 'reduced price' children whose families are perhaps waging daily battles to stay in the middle class. 'These are families that a couple years ago probably would be considered middle class — but due to inflation and a number of other concerns, the price of food in particular has hit these families hard,' said Clancy during a bill presentation last month to lawmakers. The price of a healthy meal in Utah's San Juan County, he noted, 'has gone up 77% since 2020.' Allowing 'reduced price school lunch' students to receive 'no-cost' school lunch, Clancy added, would signal 'a small adjustment to our social safety net' that can keep many Utah families on the path to self-sufficiency — and well-fed students succeeding in the classroom. HB100 also requires schools to protect students who are receiving 'no-cost' school lunch from being stigmatized or embarrassed. Special buttons, different-colored lunch trays or other things that might identify free-meal recipients to their classmates are prohibited. 'The shame and the stigma associated with participation in social safety net programs can sometimes actually be an inhibitor to participation in those programs,' Clancy told the Deseret News. Utah schools would also be encouraged to implement 'share tables' where unopened or sealed foods can be shared, instead of simply tossing it in the trash. During Tuesday's event, Clancy said collaboration between lawmakers and community organizations such as the Policy Project and Utahns Against Hunger 'found a common sense solution that doesn't just address hunger — but also food insecurity, shame, stigma and many other things.' As a police officer, Clancy has witnessed the heavy toll food insecurity can exact on Utahns — including many children. 'What HB100 represents is a system that's coming together … for all those children who are in need.' Cullimore saluted Clancy's tenaciousness in pursuing the bill and the benefits it provides many of Utah children. 'Thank you to everyone who participated and got it across the finish line.' Emily Bell McCormick, the founder and president of The Policy Project, said Tuesday that she fights back emotion thinking about the Utah children who will benefit from HB100. 'Our legislators did the right thing and got this passed for the kids,' she said. Even for working families, rising housing costs and other expenses are burdening many, added Bell McCormick. The new school meal program will help lighten some of those burdens — while demonstrating the state's investment in its youth. Neil Rickard, a child nutrition advocate with Utahns Against Hunger added that HB100 helps benefit youth by improving upon existing school meal programs for students facing economic hardships during volatile periods. 'By eliminating the reduced price category, it's just getting to that chunk of students who are in- between the reduced and free categories,' he said. Contributing: Brigham Tomco
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Starting July 1, Utah students qualifying for reduced-priced lunches can get meals for free
Gov. Spencer Cox and Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson sign HB100 at a ceremonial bill signing event at the Utah State Capitol on April 15, 2025 (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch) When representatives from the Policy Project toured schools across the state ahead of a legislative proposal to expand the school free lunch program, they heard plenty of stories of how food insecurity affects Utah students. In Logan, a student athlete said he often scavenged pizza from a dumpster. In West Valley City, a student who lived in a car said she had no way to cook food like mac and cheese that her family got from a food bank. In the Granite School District, a social worker described the academic decline of a student who is often hungry because of financial difficulties. Utah is still far from establishing a universal free lunch program in public schools. However, lawmakers approved a first step to expand who gets to access meals at no cost this year with HB100, a bill Gov. Spencer Cox ceremoniously signed on Tuesday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'This bill and what it accomplishes isn't just about providing school lunch, it's about helping kids learn, and kids can't learn when they're hungry,' Cox said on Tuesday. 'So we appreciate those hardworking class families who do so much to take care of their kids, and we know that this can alleviate just one more of those burdens for those that are struggling the most.' Utah appears ready to spend millions on free meals for eligible students The legislation allows those who qualify for reduced-cost meals to access the free lunch program in Utah, approving a one-time payment of $2.5 million to support the program. The bill also prohibits schools from publicly identifying or stigmatizing a student unable to pay for a meal, or from requiring them to perform chores to make up for the cost. Additionally, it provides students longer lunch breaks to avoid food waste, and allows unopened food to be returned for redistribution. Currently, students in households with incomes at or below 130% of federal poverty levels qualify for federal free school meals. With Utah's legislation that will become effective on July 1, those in the state with incomes between 130% and 185% of the poverty level, who could previously only access reduced meal fees, would be eligible for free lunches. Overall, it would benefit about 40,000 Utah children. The food insecurity issue was well known in the state, but it received special attention when FOX13 revealed that the combined school lunch debt in Utah was about $1.7 million in 2023. That number grew to $2.8 million in 2024. While no one is denied a meal in schools, according to FOX13, the debt may follow students throughout their school years, and may forbid them from walking in their graduation. Last year, Cox redirected $1.2 million in federal COVID-19 relief to start a grant program to address the debt. However, he said on Tuesday, up until now there wasn't a permanent solution to the issue. To help settle $2.8 million in school lunch debt, Gov. Cox finds $1.2 million. What about the rest? It wasn't the first time the bill sponsor, Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, proposed legislation like HB100. In 2024, a request for $4 million in appropriations to expand the school lunch program failed to make it to the state's budget. 'This bill, while exciting in many ways, just shows that the process does work. Shows that when people come together who are really unified on a key issue, like Gov. Cox said, that hungry kids cannot learn in the classroom, and we're spending $7 billion on education. Well, let's do something about that,' Clancy said on Tuesday. 'And that's how this bill came to be.' In Utah, 1 in 6 children face food insecurity, Clancy told the Senate Education Committee in March. All of them are from working families that don't qualify for assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), often known as food stamps, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). After the signing ceremony Emily Bell McCormick, president of the Policy Project, a nonprofit that promotes solution-based policies in the state and supported the legislation, described passing the bill as 'a battle,' but she was glad to finally see it come to fruition. 'We all understand the burden that's on us when it comes to this, especially with rising housing costs and the cost of living being more expensive here in the state of Utah,' she said. 'Spending $12 a day on a school lunch if you have three or four kids, it's pretty difficult. It's difficult for those families who barely make ends meet.' It was a challenge to find ways for the state to pay for school lunches in an efficient manner, Bell McCormick said. However, the bill authors were able to identify those who aren't getting any other assistance, and may be stuck working multiple jobs to sustain their families. 'When we looked at that, and then you look at how much we spend on education, billions of dollars (…) and the cost of this is less than $3 million,' she said. 'And so it really increases a child's chance of learning.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Teen helps nonprofit pay off portion of Utah's $2.8M school lunch debt
When an Alta High School student reached out to the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation to donate $2,500 to help relieve students' school lunch debt, DJ Bracken was in disbelief. "That was the most incredible thing I'd ever heard," said Bracken, the nonprofit's founder and executive director. High school junior David "Van" Hafner used his savings, combined with funds from the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation, to help pay off Butler Elementary School's over $6,000 school lunch debt. Bracken and Hafner presented the school with the check on Friday, March 21, marking the 12th school the foundation has helped make debt-free. Now, Hafner is planning to continue working with the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation to help raise the funds necessary to erase three more schools' school lunch debt by the end of the summer. "We certainly hope, going forward, that if more students want to come and help their community thrive, and help their fellow students pay down this debt, that is something we can facilitate and would love to do," Bracken said. Bracken created the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation in July 2024 and has since raised about $50,000 to address Utah's $2.8 million school lunch debt. He said it all began when he first learned about the state's school lunch debt in a news article and couldn't believe it was true. "I called my local school district to verify that debt, and they said, 'Not only is it true that there is that much debt in state; just in your school district, just the elementary schools, there's $88,000 in debt,'" said Bracken. "And I said, 'OK, great; send me a list of the schools, and I'm just gonna start paying them off one by one.'" He began by using his own money to pay Bluffdale Elementary School's $835 school lunch debt. Bracken then started the nonprofit in hopes others would feel inspired to help the cause. At first, he was worried the issue wouldn't gain traction in the community, but he was pleasantly surprised when the foundation raised $5,000 on Day 1. Since then, it has continued to gather donations to relieve schools of their lunch debt one by one. However, the foundation does not only intend to pay off school lunch debt; its goal is to eliminate the problem as a whole by advocating for policy change. The Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation worked with advocates and state representatives during the recent legislative session to introduce HB100, a bill that would allow students who are currently eligible for reduced-price lunch to receive free lunch and breakfast at school. "The number is just so significant that even if I had a corporate donor come in today and say, 'I'll give you $2.8 million,' it would just be back next year," Bracken said. "So we can get things like this passed and still help kids at the same time. That's how I know the organization is doing what it needs to do." Sponsored by Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, the bill also includes provisions that would prevent students from being publicly stigmatized due to having a meal debt. According to Bracken, some school districts will send students' meal debt to collections in order to receive payment and then send students home with a collections notice to give to their parents. But this bill requires schools to communicate with parents directly rather than through students. HB100 gained favor from both the Senate and the House during the legislative session and was signed into law by Gov. Spencer Cox on Tuesday. "It's just really significant; I'm really proud to have been a part of the process," Bracken said. While he feels significant progress has been made in the last year, he says Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation will continue to work as long as there is even $1 of student lunch debt. He expressed that the support the foundation has received is evidence to him that members of the community can work together to make change. "I think, right now, there's a lot of cynicism out there — just the current environment we live in — and founding (Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation) really showed me that one person can make a difference with the power of other people, too," Bracken said. "Sometimes, you just take one step in the right direction, and everybody decides to come with you, and it's really been the case here." More information about the Utah Lunch Debt Relief Foundation can be found at
Yahoo
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: HB100 takes a bite out of student hunger
As a small nonprofit, The Policy Project recognizes policy as an incredible tool to do widespread, upstream 'good.' And we bit off a huge task this year — creating a statewide policy to address hunger in the 2025 Utah legislative session. Specifically, the hunger of students. Hunger is a pervasive issue globally — and one that's difficult to solve, given the nature of bodies and the constant demand every human has for energy and calories to survive and thrive. Gratefully, Utah has lower poverty rates than most states, and hunger is not as prevalent as other places. Still, 1 in 6 children here is hungry. That's 1 in 6 too many. Going into the legislative session, we knew money was tight, and there were a lot of good bills that would be seeking funding. Having the right bill sponsor would be critical — someone who understands the reality of the incredible good in Utah, its robust economy and strong families, but has also seen the hidden things. The things we don't like to highlight. Things like families who work multiple jobs and still come up short. Things like parents who aren't able to fully care for children because of health issues, addiction or a myriad of other things. And things like kids, who can't pay attention in class because their stomachs are pained with hunger. Enter Rep. Tyler Clancy. When I first spoke to Clancy about his passion for alleviating child hunger, he told me stories from his 'real' job as a police officer in Provo. Clancy witnessed firsthand the hidden struggles families face — none more heartbreaking than child hunger. Responding to calls across the city, he saw hunger in motel rooms, in apartments, in schools. It wasn't just a background issue — it was woven into nearly every crisis he encountered. One morning before leaving the scene of a call, Clancy asked if he could do anything for the children present. Their request was simple: a ride to school and something to eat. 'Something to eat.' Those words stuck with him. He couldn't shake the realization that hunger was a daily reality for so many kids in his community. He saw it over and over again — children going without meals, struggling to focus in school, caught in situations beyond their control. And once he had seen it, he knew he had to do something about it. Thus the birth, and passage, of Utah House Bill 100 Food Security Amendments. The bill has passed the House. It passed the Senate and is waiting only for the signature of a supportive Gov. Cox. HB100 was crafted with the intent of targeting kids who need it desperately. Kids from families who are employed, and who do not qualify for any type of federal government assistance such as SNAP or TANF. They're the families we want to continue to lift toward the middle class, instead of letting them slip into poverty. HB100 will ensure that their kids, who currently qualify for 'reduced cost' lunch at school, now receive lunch at no cost. This small step alone can reduce grocery bills for households with children by as much as 19%. The bill also addresses important issues around shame and stigma — preventing schools from creating markers for students who receive free lunch, like a different color tray from their peers. It also encourages schools to create 'share tables' and ensure 15 minutes of seated eating time in order to limit food waste. No policy is perfect, nor can a single policy solve every problem. HB100 will not save all the kids in the state. It will not fix hunger during the summer or when kids are home over the weekend. And, unfortunately, it most definitely will not change life for children like Gavin Peterson, whose parents and guardians use starvation as a tool to abuse and torture them. There has been some confusion around that point. A recent article claimed that Clancy said Gavin Peterson's death paved the way for this bill. It did not. HB100, as directed by Clancy, is intentionally broad and won't address such cases, whereas Senate Bill 24 Child Abuse and Torture Amendments does address such scenarios and thankfully passed. HB100 is an incredible step toward solving hunger for our students in need. This bill targets 40,000 children from families who work hard to provide, and find themselves coming up short. These children — all children — deserve to eat. It prevents 200,000 students from experiencing stigma related to receiving free meals. And it aims to reduce food waste for 675,000 students. HB100 alone will not solve hunger in Utah. But it will ensure that those kids who need it most, in every corner of the state, have access to consistent food. Hungry kids can't learn, but fed kids can. We are incredibly grateful to the Utah Legislature for recognizing this need and for standing up for Utah's most vulnerable — its children.
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill calls for free school lunch for Utah kids receiving ‘reduced price' meals
A Logan high school student-athlete scavenges for pizza in the school dumpster prior to a game to take the edge off his hunger. A West Valley City girl living out of her family car has no way to cook the box of macaroni & cheese she received from the local food back. And a Beaver child eats dog food because her family does not have access to food at home. Such accounts of Utah school kids battling hunger helped fuel Rep. Tyler Clancy's sponsorship of the so-called 'Food Security' school lunch bill. House Bill 100 expands the number of Utah's K-12 students eligible to receive free school lunch — while shielding participating kids from embarrassment and also aiming to reduce food waste. Clancy, R-Provo, said HB100 — which unanimously passed the Senate Education Committee on Monday — creates 'an intervention in our education system that represents less than 1% of our entire education budget to make sure that students are not hungry in the classroom.' Hungry kids in Utah classrooms, he added, is a reality. 'One in six children in Utah is facing food insecurity.' A trio of provisions highlight HB100, which has undergone several revisions: First, all K-12 students who would currently be eligible for 'reduced price' meals would be moved to the 'no cost' classification for the lunchtime meal. School breakfast is not included in the bill. Second, protecting kids receiving free school lunch from embarrassment. And third, limiting food waste by encouraging schools to expand lunch period times while implementing 'shared tables' where students can return, say, sealed or unopened food items to be consumed by others. Eliminating the 'reduced price threshold' is a defining element of Clancy's bill. 'Each year, our schools are generating about $2.8 million in school meal debt,' said the lawmaker in a report to the House Education Committee last month. If it passes, HB100 would reportedly provide no-cost meals for 40,000 currently classified 'reduced price' children whose families are perhaps waging daily battles to stay in the middle class. 'These are families that a couple years ago probably would be considered middle class — but due to inflation and a number of other concerns, the price of food in particular has hit these families hard,' said Clancy during Monday's presentation. The price of a healthy meal in Utah's San Juan County, he noted, 'has gone up 77% since 2020.' Hunger can exact a costly price in the classroom, said Clancy. 'We know that there's a lot of negative consequences from student hunger in the classroom — everything from mental health to lower test scores, behavioral problems and dropout rates.' Allowing 'reduced price school lunch' students to receive 'no-cost' school lunch, he added, would signal 'a small adjustment to our social safety net' that can keep many Utah families on the path to self-sufficiency — and well-fed students succeeding in the classroom. 'We can maximize the $7 billion-plus investment in public education that we have here in the state with less than 1% of this investment' appropriated by the bill. The bill's fiscal note is estimated to be $2.5 million. HB100 also requires schools to protect students who are receiving 'no-cost' school lunch from being stigmatized or embarrassed. Special buttons, different-colored lunch trays or other things that might identify free-meal recipients to their classmates are prohibited. 'The shame and the stigma associated with participation in social safety net programs can sometimes actually be an inhibitor to participation in those programs,' Clancy told the Deseret News. Schools would be allowed to speak only to parents regarding a child's free school lunch participation. Clancy added that HB100 encourages schools to reduce food waste by prioritizing and expanding school lunch time — allowing children sufficient time 'to eat before recess.' Schools would also be encouraged to implement 'share tables' where unopened or sealed foods can be shared, instead of simply tossing it in the trash. 'Share tables', he added, have been a success at pilot program schools. 'So if you take an entire tray of lunch, but you don't want, say, the apple, or a pre-wrapped snack — instead of throwing it away … you can (add it to the share table).' Clancy's school lunch bill enjoyed broad support during Monday's public comment period. Lifelong Utah resident Sandy Snowden said she has known the uncertainty of food security during volatile economic times. 'I have also witnessed, firsthand, how we continue to struggle to support our most vulnerable,' she said. 'Through no fault of their own, many of our children need our help. Ensuring food security for kids should be an easy: 'Yes.'' 'As a mother of five, I know the fear of not knowing how we would feed my kids.' Neil Rickard from Utahns Against Hunger said initiatives such as HB100 can prevent families who are experiencing 'hard times' from slipping into 'genuine crisis.' 'These programs are especially important at a time when pantries around the state are under strain and forced to cut programs or hours — and other resources simply aren't available for kids in this bracket.'
