Omar, Smith want to end stigma for students who can’t pay for school meals

It took the death of a St. Paul cafeteria supervisor named Philando Castile to spark a push in Minnesota to end the shame students often face when they can’t afford to pay for school meals.

Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Tina Smith want every school in the U.S. to have the same policy. On Thursday, they reintroduced a bill they’ve dubbed the No Shame in School Act.

“The problem does persist across the country and this will make sure that no family is feeling inadequate, being harassed and no child is experiencing the level of shame that is associated with having a meal taken from you after it has been served,” Omar said.

Shaming tactics range from having meals taken away from students who can’t pay, being labeled with stamps that indicate they did not pay for their meal, or calling on debt collectors to pursue unpaid meal fees. The bill would bar schools from taking action against students that could in turn shame them for not being able to afford to pay for school meals.

A 2023 survey from the School Nutrition Association found that school districts across the country reported $19.2 million in unpaid meal debt, with the highest rate of debt in the Midwest and Mountain Plains.

“A lot of people are not educated or well versed that this problem exists or just how prevalent the problem is,” Omar said.

Before Castile was fatally shot by a police officer, he was known as a cafeteria supervisor for St. Paul Public Schools for helping to pay for the school lunches of students who could not afford to do so.

After he died, his mother, Valerie Castile, heard the stories about her son’s generosity and decided to continue funding meals for students by setting up the Philando Castile Relief Foundation.

“I think he will be absolutely proud, extremely proud, to know that somebody else cared,” Castile said in an interview.

Inspired by the Castiles’ work, Omar and Smith have been pushing for this legislation since 2019. It was included in the Child Nutrition Reauthorization bill in the last Congress, which passed out of the House Education and Labor Committee. Since then it’s been at a standstill.

The legislation would require schools to try to certify students if they go a week or more with unpaid school meals. Schools would also be entitled to receive retroactive reimbursements for unpaid student meals for up to 90 days. Neither Omar’s nor Smith’s office were able to provide any estimates of the costs school districts could incur.

The renewed congressional push comes more than a year after Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill that’s made breakfast and lunch free for all Minnesota public and charter school students regardless of their family’s income, a policy just a handful of states have adopted.

“We still have a lot of educating to do when it comes to people understanding why folks don’t have enough money to pay for their kid’s lunch,” Smith said, “Let’s be honest, in this country we still stigmatize poor people, and there are still attitudes that people who don’t have enough money to pay for their kids lunch, it’s their fault.”

The Minnesota lawmakers said they are both optimistic they will be able to shepherd the proposal into law in the next Congress — especially if Democrats are able to take back the U.S. House, Omar said.

If Republicans keep House control and win the White House, prospects are shakier. No Republicans have signed on as supporters, but Omar and Smith hope that will change.

“The way that you build support and you build a big coalition for bills like this is you keep on introducing them, and you keep on talking about it with people and helping to expand people’s knowledge and understanding,” Smith said.

So far, Omar’s office said at least 33 other lawmakers have signed on as cosponsors to the bill. It had the support of more than 80 organizations in the last Congress including from Hunger Solutions Minnesota, Minnesota Farmers Union and Children’s Defense Fund-Minnesota, according to Omar’s office.