Monday, July 17, 2023

Chair Lewis, Chair Garlick, and Members of the Joint Committee on Education:

My name is Jonathan Cohn, and I am the Policy Director of Progressive Massachusetts, a statewide grassroots advocacy group committed to fighting for an equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable Commonwealth.

We urge you to give a favorable report to H.603 and S.261: An Act relative to universal school meals.

Over 1 in 5 households with children in Massachusetts are struggling to put food on the table. School meals take the pressure off family budgets and allow families to put food on the table day-to-day.​

Ensuring that students receive proper nutrition would reduce health care costs, improve student attendance, improve socio-emotional health, and improve student performance. It’s simple: if basic needs are not met, higher-level functions are more difficult. You can’t do well on a test if your number one though is the growl in your stomach.

We have seen the success of universal school meals already, and we are grateful for past extensions of universal school meals by the Legislature in recognition of the success. It’s time to make universal school meals permanent.

California, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Vermont have heeded the data and done so already. Let’s join them.

Please give a favorable report to these bills and urge the Budget Conference Committee to include permanent universal school meals in the FY 2024 budget currently being negotiated.

Thank you for your work on this.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Cohn

Policy Director

Progressive Massachusetts