Why School Meals for All is Essential for San Francisco Students
Jennifer LeBarre, Interim Senior Executive Director, Operations, Supporting Student Nutrition Services & Transportation for the San Francisco Unified School District
By the time they graduate, San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) seniors will have spent over 13,000 hours in our schools learning, socializing and, thankfully, eating. Every day, SFUSD’s Student Nutrition Services team works to ensure students get the nutrition they need to learn and grow.
In 2022, California transformed school nutrition programs by adopting School Meals for All.
School Meals for All is exactly what it sounds like. Every public school student can enjoy school breakfast and lunch for free, no paperwork required. But this simple premise has revolutionized school nutrition in San Francisco and shown the good that can come from well-designed policies. Last week, despite a state budget deficit, our state leaders held true to this commitment and the legislature passed full funding for the program in the 2024-2025 state budget.
We think of schools as places of learning, but they also serve as key meal providers for children. During the school year, SFUSD serves over 37,000 meals per day at 136 schools across San Francisco. For some students, these may be their only meals of the day. As over one in four California families with children face food insecurity, there is an acute need for programs that assist kids where they’re at most. Through this lens, schools are more than hubs of academia, and School Meals for All serves as a first line of defense against poverty.
The federal National School Lunch Program provides free or reduced-price meals to students from families whose incomes border the federal poverty line. But this program doesn’t account for California’s high cost of living. In San Francisco, where a family of four living on nearly $150,000 annually is considered low-income, too many children are ineligible for a program they desperately need.
The difference since California’s School Meals for All program began is night and day. The additional state funding supports our schools to source local, nutritious produce and craft delicious meals that our students love, and has decreased SFUSD’s nutrition department’s general fund reliance by $2 million. I can only imagine what this program means to other school districts throughout the state, particularly those that are underserved and underfunded. The ability to feed every hungry student, regardless of their background, makes every dollar invested worthwhile.
Most importantly, School Meals for All is helping students thrive. From October 2019 to October 2023, school meal participation at SFUSD increased 14% at breakfast and 4% at lunch. Studies show a correlation between school meal participation and positive physical and mental health outcomes for students. Kids who eat school meals are more likely to consume nutrient-rich foods at breakfast and lunch, while also making fewer visits to the school nurse. On top of that, school meal participation is linked to improved learning and class attendance.
The change I’ve enjoyed seeing the most is less stigma around eating school meals. Before, there was shame associated with school breakfast and lunch. Classmates would pass judgments that lingered with some kids all the way through adulthood, where they would end up refusing to complete their own child’s school meal paperwork out of fear they’d be ridiculed. School Meals for All has transformed the cafeteria experience. Kids of all backgrounds are ecstatic to enjoy a delicious school lunch with their friends.
I am proud to serve a critical role in the growth and development of San Francisco’s youth, and proud to live in a state that is making investments our kids deserve. I applaud state leaders for continuing to lead the way on school nutrition and understand the significant improvements it’s made for school staff, teachers, administrators, families and children. These meals aren’t just small potatoes, they are crucial to the wellbeing of students in San Francisco and beyond.
Jennifer LeBarre serves as the Interim Senior Executive Director, Operations, Supporting Student Nutrition Services & Transportation for the San Francisco Unified School District. She has over 30 years of school nutrition experience that spans from the elementary to college-level.