Michelle Bos-Lun and Richard Nelson are state representatives who sit across the table from each other in the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry Committee. Bos-Lun is a high school teacher from Westminster, representing the Windham-3 district in her third term. Nelson, a dairy farmer from Derby, is a first-term representative serving Orleans-1.
We are two Vermont state representatives - one Democrat, one Republican - serving together on the House Committee for Agriculture, Food Resiliency, and Forestry. Understanding the needs of our students and families, we are in solidarity on the fundamental right to good nutrition for all our students with equity and without stigma.
We are strong supporters of universal school meals, a policy passed into law in 2023. This year, the governor has neglected to fund the program, proposing to repeal a policy that greatly benefits not only Vermont students and their families but also our state's farmers.
Our committee has taken many hours of testimony about the universal school meals policy. The vice chair of our committee, Rep. Heather Surprenant, a Vermont farmer, shared last week that "across the political spectrum, we all talk about wanting to make Vermont more affordable for families to live here.
"We talk about wanting to end food insecurity in children and easing the cost of living for working class Vermonters. This program succeeds in these efforts," she added.
According to Rep. Surprenant, without the program, families would have to pay an additional $1,500 per child annually for school food.
"This is a major strain on middle-income families, who often don't qualify for free or reduced-price meals but who still struggle with rising costs," she said.
"It costs taxpayers roughly $30 per year to continue feeding kids - this program is not where we should be debating cutting costs," she continued. "Universal School Meals represents less than 1% of the Education Fund, yet the impact is profound."
Cheryl Charles, chair of the Westminster School Board and the Windham Northeast Supervisory Union School Board, commented, "Vermont's Universal Meals program provides outstanding, cost-effective and much needed benefits to students throughout Vermont, while also helping to support local farmers and communities. Children get nutritious meals, which help them to thrive physically, academically and socially, and the farmers get to sell more local produce right where it is grown."
The program strengthens our agricultural economy. The increased sales from feeding all of Vermont's children helps to create a reliable market for Vermont's farmers. We on the House Agriculture Committee hear often how many farmers struggle to stay in business, and we want to keep Vermont kids and Vermont farms strong.
Schools have incentives for buying local food and have spent over $1.2 million on local food with the program. We had testimony that for every dollar spent on local food an additional $1.60 is generated for the Vermont economy.
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After hearing many hours of testimony from food and farm advocates and school leaders around the state, we stand in agreement with our House Agriculture Committee colleagues: The universal school meals program needs to continue in Vermont.
Our committee has three Republicans, an independent, and four Democrats. Our political perspectives cut across the political spectrum. But we all listened carefully and asked questions about testimony. When we had a straw poll vote in committee, we voted unanimously to recommend continued full funding of this valuable program.
Rep. Nelson has been a school board member for 14 years. "Before universal school meals, we would have thousands of dollars (up to $18,000) in unpaid lunch bills. Students weren't allowed to graduate unless their bill was paid up, but our district agreed we didn't want kids to carry this burden and we would cover the expenses at the end of the year. Now everyone has access to breakfast and lunch, and there are no extra bills left for students or their families. This is how it should be."
We believe healthy meals should be available to all students. Rep. Bos-Lun has worked with food-insecure students.
"Knowing that our state is providing nutritious food to students is how it should be. We provide books, transportation, access to classrooms and instruction at no charge to public school students. Providing food is an important need that we can help meet with the universal school meals program," Bos-Lun says.
Rep. Nelson adds, "With universal school meals, we save over $5 million in administrative costs. With this program we have captured an additional $16.9 million in federal funds to feed all our students. We are achieving almost a 2:1 federal-to-state dollars match and more kids who need support are getting it."
He noted that "63% of our students would now qualify for free and reduced meals compared to the 37% in 2018. The need for this program is significant."
Retired senator and former Senate Agriculture Committee chair, Bobby Starr, brought universal school meals to the Troy School District as a school board member before it went statewide. We will close with his words at a press conference at the Vermont State House which we both attended last week: "We don't need to make Vermont more affordable on the backs of our children."
It is our fervent hope that universal school meals will continue - and that it will keep on supporting Vermont's children, families, and farmers.
This Voices Legislative Update was submitted to The Commons.
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