20-03-2025
Bill would fund school meals for families who can't pay
School lunch illustration by Getty Images.
Rep. Melissa Romano still remembers a fourth grader who started acting out in her classroom about a decade ago.
At the time, Romano, D-Helena, said her school district used to have teachers put slips of paper in students' mailboxes that served as their lunch bills.
One day, the little boy showed her a bunch of the slips crumpled at the bottom of his backpack, and he started crying — 'for fourth grade boys to cry, that takes quite a bit,' Romano said.
'He said, 'I want to go home. I can't be here in school because my parents can't pay these bills,'' Romano recalled.
The boy had two other siblings, the bill had reached $343, and Romano walked to the school office to pay it before the family got sent to collections — a practice in her district at the time.
This week, Romano told the House Education Committee the situation inspired her interest in nutrition for children. She said House Bill 551 would fill an important gap, ensuring children have enough to eat at school.
Some children qualify for free meals at school. Others qualify for discounts, so breakfast and lunch cost them around 30 cents or 40 cents each, Romano said.
But even with the discount, Romano said families still struggle to pay those bills, and it means children skip meals and go hungry.
HB 551 would cover the cost of those meals with an estimated $600,000 a year, Romano said. In Montana, she said, one in six children live in a food insecure household.
No one testified against the bill, but Romano said she has presented similar legislation before, and it hasn't been adopted.
Proponents of the bill said undernourished children don't learn, and Kim Popham, with the Montana Federation of Public Employees, said the legislation would support another interest of committee members.
'In this committee, many of you often bring up the fact that our test scores are low, but let me remind you that if students don't have enough to eat, they cannot learn,' Popham said.
Supporters also said in some districts, school administrators have to double as collections agents, and the phone calls about unpaid bills destroy the trust between schools and families.
Tobin Novasio, superintendent of Hardin Public Schools, said he was one of the children Romano talked about, who skipped meals as a child.
'Oftentimes, I would tell my teachers I was going home for lunch but would just walk around the neighborhood, not eat,' Novasio said.
With help in part from great teachers and role models — he pointed to a committee member, long-time educator Rep. Lee Deming, R-Laurel, as one — Novasio said he escaped poverty.
However, he knows when families get a $40 or $50 bill for meals, it can be 'a huge amount.'
Novasio said he doesn't want school administrators to have to call families and blur the line of the school's role — schools should support families, not be the enemy.
'I don't ever want any student under my care to have that type of feeling of anxiety or to go without a meal,' Novasio said.
Popham, with the Montana Federation of Public Employees, said she left the classroom just a couple of years ago as a biology teacher, and her students often referred to her as a 'science geek.'
Once a month, on payday, she would buy healthy snacks at Costco because she knew students needed them, and she told the committee the science behind her approach.
Organs need energy, energy comes from food, the brain is an organ, and it consumes about 20% of the energy humans take in, Popham said — and growing children need a lot more of that energy.
Representatives from the Montana Quality Education Coalition, American Heart Association in Montana, the Blackfeet Nation, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy's Reservation, the Helena School District, and the Bigfork Food Bank were among proponents of the bill.
In response to a question from Rep. Jamie Isaly, D-Livingston, about whether the unpaid meal accounts push schools into the red, Doug Reisig, with the Montana Quality Education Coalition, said yes.
Reisig said some philanthropic people will volunteer to pay outstanding bills, and school districts do 'creative things' to try to collect the money.
'Turning to collections is probably the last straw,' Reisig said. 'I've had to do that as well, and you don't ever want to have to do that, but you try to make sure that when you end the year, that your food service program is not in arrears.'
A former superintendent from Culbertson said that his district had ended up $10,000 or $15,000 in the hole because of unpaid meal accounts.
Rep. Sherry Essmann, R-Billings, wanted to know the actual cost of a school meal, and Rep. Mark Thane, D-Missoula, a former superintendent, said elementary school lunch cost $3.00 in Missoula in 2025, and it cost $3.25 in middle and high schools.
In response to questions from Essmann, Romano said the $600,000 annual price is an estimate, one she said she believes is on the high end, and any leftover dollars would return to the general fund.
A handout from the Montana Food Bank Network said 21,000 students currently qualify for a reduced price meal in Montana, and the bill would make those meals free — which Rep. Pete Elverum, D-Helena, calculated meant that for about $28.50 per student, HB 551 would feed 21,000 children breakfast and lunch for an entire year
The committee did not take immediate action on the bill. However, Romano said the $300 for that fourth grader she once taught was insurmountable, and removing that burden for the family was life changing.
'I think that this bill is far beyond an act of compassion,' Romano said. 'I think that it's really a commitment to ensuring that every child in Montana has the opportunity to reach their full potential.'
