The Student Agenda: Meal program expansion a game changer for TUSD
TUSD expanded its free meal program earlier this year to include all students in all schools … Teachers and administrators say they can see the impact … Tucson sales tax election a no-go for now.
For their final project, students in Caitlin’s reporting public affairs class at the University of Arizona School of Journalism were tasked with highlighting a local solution. This class turned out some great stories, and we’ll be sharing a handful of them over the next few weeks.
Today, we’re running a piece by Annalise Wille.
Tucson Unified School District is gearing up for its last day of classes, and while the district had plenty of challenges this year, teachers and administrators are celebrating one very big win.
In January, the district announced that free breakfast and lunch would be available to all students across its 87 schools, under an expansion of the Community Eligibility Program of the National School Lunch Program.
The federal program allows schools and districts serving a higher-poverty population to provide free meals to students and be reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Previously, the USDA required that 40% of a district’s students qualify for the school lunch program to be eligible for district-wide free lunch benefits. But in January, that number was reduced to 25%, which opened the door for TUSD to qualify.
The expanded program also took some of the strain off of families by eliminating the paperwork previously required to qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Now, every student can participate, regardless of their family’s income.
Thousands of students have benefitted from the program’s expansion in its first few months, with the positive impact apparent to teachers and administrators. But despite the success, those same people say there’s still a lot of work to be done when it comes to addressing food insecurity in schools.
Before free lunch was made available to everyone, Tucson High School teacher Brieanne Buttner said she rarely saw her students eat.
“Most kids don’t eat all day,” Buttner said. “They don’t eat breakfast, they don't have lunch, and they don’t eat until they go home.”
Buttner said she found that when her students didn’t eat, it contributed to their disconnect in the classroom, adding that she doesn’t think students even realize the importance of having sustained energy during their school day.
“It makes a difference in the classroom, it makes a difference in their dynamics, it makes a difference in their relationships,” Buttner said.
And while Buttner always tried to have snacks on-hand in her classroom, she said it was a financial strain to consistently provide food to her students. Now that free breakfast and lunch is available at Tucson High, she said students ask her for food much less often.
TUSD Director of Food Services Lindsay Aguilar said the program helps take stress off families who previously didn’t qualify for free meals (and sometimes by only a few dollars.)
“We have families who miss(ed) the (monthly income) qualification by $5,” Aguilar said. “That money they had to come up with to pay for the meals was a struggle for many families.”
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 15% of people in Pima County were living in poverty in 2021, so for many families, paying for a child’s lunch just isn’t possible.
And since almost 75% of TUSD households qualified for free or reduced-price lunches prior to this year, there’s a great need in this community to address food insecurity, according to Aguilar.
“A lot of our students come from households that don’t have consistent access to food,” Aguilar said.
She said that with the prevalence of food insecurity in the region –– the Arizona Department of Agriculture reports that more than 130,000 Tucsonans suffer from food insecurity –– these school-provided meals could be the only food students eat in a given day.
“I’m a mom, so when people are not fed it affects me,” Buttner said. “I scramble to try to find food to get them fed.”
Aguilar said now that meals are free for everyone, many more students are eating during the school day, which helps take the burden off families and teachers.
But she acknowledged that providing free meals doesn’t solve the broader issue of food insecurity in schools.
“While CEP is a wonderful positive program, it still hasn’t solved the greater picture of being able to provide healthy school meals to all around the country,” Aguilar said.
According to a report by the Food Research and Action Center, more than 500 schools participated in the program in the 2022-2023 school year in Arizona. Across the country, about 19.7 million children receive a free or reduced-price lunch on any given day.
Buttner and Aguilar both hope the National School Lunch Program will further expand and be able to provide public school districts with nationwide free access to meals, free from qualifications.
“There’s still work to be done in terms of the ultimate goal,” Aguilar said.
And while school is about to be out for summer break, TUSD will still be providing free breakfast and lunch at all schools, with the district updating its website daily.
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No-go for now: Time has run out for the City of Tucson to hold a sales tax election in July, the Tucson Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel reports. The city council voted to hold the election in February, but didn’t give details about it. They would have had to approve ballot language by their April 25 meeting, but now it’s too late. City Councilman Paul Cunningham said they might hold the election in November or a later date. The scuttlebut was the city wanted to go it alone on transportation, rather than stick with the Regional Transportation Authority. Cunningham said the sales tax revenue would go to community wellness and safety, not transportation.
It got out of hand: If you want to know how the 2022 election debacle in Cochise County unfolded, the Arizona Republic’s Sasha Hupka and Stacey Barchenger have a story for you. They dive into the transcripts of the grand jury proceedings, which the Republic sued to unseal, that led to the indictment of Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd on felony election interference charges.
Call to the public: City of Tucson officials are applying for $22 million in federal grants to boost local housing and they want to hear from the public. They want to use Community Development Block Grants to revitalize hundreds of manufactured homes and provide eviction prevention services, among other initiatives. Officials will hold a hearing at the Tucson City Council meeting this evening. Public comments will be accepted through May 31.
About time: After two decades, the pipe that carries wastewater from Nogales, Sonora to Nogales, Arizona is fixed, the Sentinel’s Paul Ingram reports. The pipe carries millions of gallons of wastewater and runoff every day across the border to a treatment plant in Rio Rico. Every once in a while, it breaks and releases sewage into Nogales and Rio Rico. But for the longest time officials couldn’t agree who should pay for the long-term repairs. The City of Nogales transferred ownership to a federal agency and $34 million in federal dollars did the trick.
Day in court: The family of a Tohono O’odham man who was shot and killed on tribal land by Border Patrol agents has sued the federal government, KJZZ’s Alisa Reznick reports. Raymond Mattia died May 18, 2023 after agents came to his home in response to a 911 call, which involved gunshots. Body camera footage showed agents telling Mattia to raise his arms and then shooting him one second after he raised them. A Department of Justice official said the shooting didn’t violate federal criminal law.
Switching it up: Tucson officials are trying to replace the grass that grows around businesses, schools, and apartment complexes with desert landscaping. They’re offering $5 for every square foot of grass that gets replaced, KGUN’sJoel Foster reports. Plus, if you plant trees or install passive water harvesting, you can get more bonus incentives from Tucson Water.
$46,435: The annual income limit In Arizona for a family of four to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, according to Map the Meal Gap. Monthly, that’s $3,870 before taxes.