Last month, Governor Evers included free school meals for all, strategic investments in school breakfast funding, and a local purchasing incentive program in his proposed biennial budget. More specifically known as the Governor’s Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids plan. Allison Pfaff Harris, farm-to-school director at REAP Food Group explains what this plan means for Wisconsin and our producers.
“To go a little bit more in depth, essentially school districts will receive reimbursement from the federal government for students qualifying for free and reduced meals and then for those who don’t qualify for either, they’ll receive a smaller amount of federal reimbursement,” says Harris.
In total, the governor’s 2023-25 biennial budget proposal will provide an increase of more than $2.6 billion for public schools.
Governor Evers has long maintained that a kid who’s hungry isn’t going to be able to focus on their studies or in the classroom, and his budget proposal makes critical investments to provide universal breakfast and lunch and engage local farmers and producers in the school meal marketplace. The governor’s plan includes:
- Creating the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids program, an initiative aimed at improving student health and reducing hunger by investing $120.2 million in FY 2024-25 to fully fund school breakfasts and lunches for all children;
- Providing $4.3 million in FY 2023-24 and $4.7 million in FY 2024-25 to increase the school breakfast reimbursement rate to 15 cents per meal and extending eligibility for the reimbursement to independent charter schools and state residential schools operated by the Department of Public Instruction (DPI); and
- Incentivizing schools to support Wisconsin farmers, food producers, and local economies by providing $2.75 million in FY 2024-25 for an enhanced 10 cents reimbursement per meal for those including locally sourced foods.
Harris says this definition of local would mirror what Michigan is doing as they have a 10 cent program that is a reimbursement for local food served. This reimbursement encourages school nutrition programs to reach out to local growers and work together to help understand each other’s demand.
In order to make this a reality, Harris says people throughout Wisconsin need to talk with their elected officials and encourage them to keep this funding for students, schools and farmers. The joint finance committee is hosting listing sessions in the month of April around this state that people can attend and give their input.
Harris adds, “We see this as a huge investment in our school nutrition programs, for our students, and our farmers and growers throughout the state. This is a huge win for the state of Wisconsin.”
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