Some Indiana children will be less likely to eat at school if Congressman Todd Rokita, R–Indiana, has his way.
At Recorder press time, a House committee was scheduled to vote on a bill that would “raise the share of a school’s students who must be receiving other government aid in order for the school to be eligible to provide meals to all students.”
Currently, if at least 40 percent of a school’s student-base is below the federal poverty level or qualifies for assistance, that school can offer free lunches to all students. Congress instituted this approach six years ago, and it has been successful in Indiana and throughout the country.
But now Rokita wants all of that to change.
He wants to increase the qualification rate to 60 percent, an effort he believes will more appropriately provide assistance to those who are truly in need.
Aside from just being plain nonsense, Rokita’s plan has flaws. For instance, there is a negative stigma associated with low-income children already, and some parents who are truly below the poverty level refuse to acknowledge that, because they do not want their children to be considered poor or have other youth make fun of them. To some, that may seem asinine, but to a struggling single mother who wants to raise a child who doesn’t feel inferior, it is a necessary inconvenience. With all children receiving free lunch, the ability to stigmatize someone is non-existent.
Something else to consider: Because the food is supplied in bulk, it is often more cost-effective to feed all students, rather than a select number.
And how exactly does Rokita plan to feed the potentially thousands of children whose only meals are those they receive at school? Restaurants, food banks and philanthropic entities are already stressed to capacity when it comes to feeding the poor.
Nationwide funding for child nutrition programs — the largest being schools — has increased by more than 50 percent in the past 26 years. Such data speaks to the tremendous need for food security in the United States.
If Rokita’s bill is passed, free lunch programs at 120 Indiana schools would be in jeopardy. Fourteen of those schools are in Marion County. In total, more than 58,000 youth would no longer qualify for free meals.
Rokita should know better; or maybe he does know better but simply doesn’t care.
The congressman’s actions underscore the need for all of us to do our due diligence by properly educating ourselves on the individuals we elect into office. The first line in Rokita’s official biography states he is “serving and fighting for all Hoosiers so they can build better lives for themselves and their families.”
Removing food from children’s mouths does not help them or their parents have better lives. I expect more from an elected official, especially one who serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood Education, Elementary and Secondary Education.
Meanwhile, while Rokita is trying to limit access to food for students, one local mom (who prefers to remain anonymous) is collecting contributions to ensure students at her child’s school can eat, because many of the parents can’t afford to pay overdue lunch bills.
Shame on Todd Rokita and shame on any elected official who supports taking food from the mouths of Indiana’s children.
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In other insane education news, schools in Cleveland, Mississippi, are sill racially segregated. You read that correctly: 60 years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared school segregation unconstitutional in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, Blacks and whites in Cleveland, Mississippi, still attend separate schools.
A federal court recently mandated the district completely consolidate its schools. The district has three weeks to develop a plan that will implement the desegregation process; however, change may not come rapidly. An attorney for Cleveland School District said the board is currently deciding whether or not it wants to appeal the decision.
Hatred and fear can indeed be debilitating.
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While it appears this column may have stated otherwise, there is actually some good news in the local education realm.
The Ivy Tech board of directors voted to approve former Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann as the community college’s new president. Kudos to Ellspermann as she enters this new phase of her professional life. Ellspermann will succeed current president Tom Snyder, who is retiring this year.
