(The Center Square) – The debate over universal free school lunches is once again working its way through the Nevada legislature.
Over 80% of Nevada students are already eligible for free school meals. For the remaining students, alternative options often exist, but none that have satisfied proponents of the most recent bill on the issue, Assembly Bill 268.
“If a student does not suffer from hunger and is feeling healthy, they can then focus on what is being taught,” said Assemblymember Natha Anderson of Washoe County. “You’ve probably gone through the same thing. It’s been a long meeting, and you’re thinking ‘OK, I’m hungry.’ Imagine you’re a 12-year-old and you haven’t eaten since last night. It’s all you can think about.”
AB 268 would use $33 million over the next two years to fund free student breakfasts and lunches. The original figure was $86 million.
Gov. Joe Lombardo previously vetoed a near identical 2023 bill, AB 319, with the main difference being a proposed $43 million in funds.
“The state is well-equipped to provide students in need with free or reduced-price meals through the programs established prior to the pandemic,” said Lombardo’s Press Secretary Josh Meny. “However, if there is a demonstrated need for more school meal funding this school year, Gov. Lombardo will evaluate additional funding proposals that minimize food waste, rely on recurring funding streams and provide school meals to students who are demonstrably in-need but currently ineligible.”
The Governor’s Office said Lombardo would consider any legislation that made it to his desk.
For the 80.6% of students covered by the state’s Community Eligibility Program, which targets K-12 students at schools in low-income schools and districts, free meals require no application.
For the other 19.4%, families of students can apply for Free and Reduced-Price School Meals.
“I’m grateful that we have robust programs in place to ensure that these students receive free school meals in Nevada,” Lombardo wrote in an open letter to parents in 2024.
The issue has largely become one for rural counties as more urban areas such as Clark County already provide universal free meals. Washoe County was mentioned by Assemblymember Sandra Jauregui, D-Clark County, one of the bill’s designers, as an area of additional need.
“We have the knowledge and the capability to help each other. Isn’t that one of our core values?” said Anderson, the Washoe County resident and Assembly member who was a high school and middle school teacher for 27 years. “I think every county is in need of it, but our county is the largest county with this need.”
No votes have been cast on the bill.
