Editorial Counterpoint: There's nothing 'excessive' about feeding kids

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Ensuring that kids have access to free breakfast and lunch at school is a vital step to addressing the needs of our kids in a truly holistic and equitable way. It's an opportunity to invest in the health of children. Unfortunately, the Star Tribune Editorial Board believes that funding free meals for all Minnesota students, regardless of family income, is "excessive" ("Provide school meals to those in need," Feb. 17).

Providing no-cost meals only for those "in need" is easier said than done. The means-tested approach we use today doesn't account for the many families struggling with the cost of food, or the possible events that can rapidly endanger a family's financial stability. We simply don't know what our students' home life is like. One in six Minnesota children lives with food insecurity, and of those children, one in four fails to qualify for free meals. Our children are going hungry. Our current system is inadequate.

The idea that funding nutritious meals for children is "excessive" is off the mark. Adequate nutrition is an essential element of learning, every bit as important as books and desks. No one has proposed requiring students from well-off families to purchase their own desks, or pay a fare to ride the school bus. Such things are parts of the basic infrastructure of education. If it makes sense to spend public dollars to help kids reach school safely, it also makes sense to spend them to keep kids fed at school.

Proper nutrition is fundamental to a child's well-being. Healthy foods fuel cognitive development and physical growth, especially at younger ages. Hungry children are less able to focus and more likely to experience developmental delays.

We also know that school-aged children and adolescents who go hungry are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation and substance abuse. At Children's Minnesota we have seen kids' mental health reach a point of crisis, and this same crisis is sweeping through our schools. One way we can address this is through infrastructure we already have: school meals.

Lawmakers are rising to the occasion by moving forward with a bold plan to offer no-cost breakfast and lunch to every student in Minnesota. Gov. Tim Walz has voiced strong support, the bill already passed the House, and has bipartisan support in the Senate. That is as it should be in a state that prides itself on excellence in education.

Because until we are meeting the basic needs of all Minnesota students (and that starts with food) all of our other investments will fall short. No matter how great a teacher is or how comprehensive a textbook might be — if kids are hungry, they're not learning.

We have the opportunity to build the foundation kids need to be physically and mentally healthy so they can focus on learning. The two dollars it costs to provide a student with breakfast and lunch each day buys a proven benefit to that student's ability to learn. I respectfully disagree that this is "bad policy." I can't think of anything with a better return on investment than feeding kids.

Gigi Chawla is chief of general pediatrics at Children's Minnesota.