An "awful" government shutdown repercussion looms for U.S. families and children as a new analysis warns a "hard pill to swallow" has emerged.
School lunches — an important resource for food-insecure families and sometimes the only guaranteed meal for a child during the day — are now at risk due to halted federal funding, The Huffington Post's Nathalie Baptiste reported Friday.
"School districts around the country have put out messages reassuring families that the National School Lunch Program, which provides low-cost or free nutritious meals to schoolchildren, will continue — for now," Baptiste writes.
But that will change in November. It's unclear what will happen next.
"School lunches are a critical lifeline for kids and their families. There is ample evidence that school lunches are an important resource and that well-fed kids perform better academically, enjoy better mental health and have fewer behavioral issues," Baptiste writes.
Some schools might find ways to seek additional funding, but others are already financially strained.
“In districts that have fewer resources, especially in rural areas, it could be a significant challenge as to where they can find more resources,” Weadé James, Center for Progress senior director of K-12 policy, told HuffPost. “Every district doesn’t have the luxury of having those reserves.”
The threat of losing school lunches continues as long as the shutdown remains, which lawmakers signal could be the longest government shutdown in history.
"It’s a hard pill to swallow. And it may be the only thing some kids are getting," Baptiste writes.
