Why is it that students K-12 are expected to spend a minimum of $270 a year on lunch? These children whose ages range from 5-18 spend upwards of seven hours at school consistently cramming their heads full of information on various subjects within a half-hour reprieve period. During their lunch period, they feel pressure to eat quickly so they don’t end up eating in class. This is not healthy in any way, and it ends up negatively affecting student performance. 

Fact: kids need food in order to function. An elementary school student needs an average of 1,600-2,200 calories per day in order to grow and develop. Middle and High School students require 2,200-2,800 calories a day. Skipping meals brings their caloric intake down, leading to losing energy and becoming exhausted by the end of the school day. Kids are also more susceptible to behavioral and mental problems when they’re struggling with hunger. To effectively learn, a student needs to sufficiently fulfill their basic nutritional needs, but a paywall stands in the way.  Eating lunch is an important factor in improving school-wide health and positivity. 

During the initial COVID-19 lockdown the government made the executive decision to fund school districts so they were able to provide free lunch and breakfast for all students. Many rejoiced at being provided with two free meals. However, at the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, the funding was cut and lunch fees were put back into place. Due to this, many kids decided to just skip lunch altogether, not wanting to spend or simply not having the money to buy lunch every single day. While the district offers a free lunch program (free and reduced lunch or FRL) for students that meet the income requirements, some students are not eligible due to their parents being just above the FRL requirements but still don’t want to spend the extra cost on lunch. Along with this, students who do buy lunch every day often spend upwards of $3-5, with a total cost of roughly $540-900 per year. To some, that’s an entire two months’ worth of rent that can’t be spent on something like frozen weenies and mass-produced box mac n’ cheese. 

Frankly, the idea that a prepubescent child that doesn’t even understand basic algebra would be worrying about the cost of lunch is ridiculous— coming from someone who was in that situation and would be horribly hangry. Lunch should be provided free of charge to all students so they may be properly fueled for the day and can truly apply themselves to academics without the extra worry over money or hunger. The government needs to spend less time focusing on hateful ideologies like banning the right to abortion and more time prioritizing the health of living, breathing children that build the future of our country. Instead of funding state-sanctioned bullying toward transgender girls, Kim Reynolds could turn her attention to giving everyone free, healthy meals. If she really wanted to improve the everyday lives of Iowans, she could give money to schools so they might better support their students. Every student deserves to eat, and the government needs to realize that.