Lunch For All

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This program would ensure that every AISD student has access to a nutritious breakfast and lunch. This is in contrast to the current district policy which offers free meals at select campuses and means tests for acceptance into the free lunch program elsewhere. We believe that it is always wrong to withhold meals from children, regardless of how much money their family might make.  L.F.A would also guarantee meals for all District employees. In a time when the cost of living is skyrocketing throughout the city, it is important that the district does what it can to alleviate the burden on its employees in some way. By ensuring that everyone can eat we would be able to take one more stressor off everyone's plate. 

Studies have proven that food insecurity is directly correlated with worse educational outcomes. It is a quite simple concept, that individuals do worse in school when they aren't sure where their next meal is coming from. By eliminating this threat we would ensure that every student has an even playing field and is set up for success in their learning environment.

The cost of free school lunch is difficult to get an exact number on prior to implementation, but a rough estimate can be approximated by viewing the past budgets passed by the AISD school board. Free school lunch may sound like it would be an expensive program, but in reality it would likely cost less than 10 million dollars to give everyone in the district free food. For reference AISD had a functional operating budget of over 930 million dollars last year. In comparison to such a large overall budget, the cost of guaranteeing a meal for every individual at every campus in the district is shockingly low. On top of the low cost of implementation, the return from making such an investment into our schools would result in benefits that are felt throughout the entire district.