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That sounds particularly crappy even for a US school lunch. But I don't think the numbers are right. Even back then 50 cents a lunch for food is not a real num

That sounds particularly crappy even for a US school lunch. But I don't think the numbers are right. Even back then 50 cents a lunch for food is not a real number. Also, reduced and free lunches generally accounted for ~40% of students, and getting reimbursed for that from the federal program required pretty tight bookkeeping.

jermaustin1 3y ago
I grew up in a very impoverished, but very proud area. Kids usually get their first job at 14 to help pay for their school food and fees (even our public school had fees for basically every elective you took - and you were required to take multiple electives per year... not very elective, if you ask me). There was a number I heard years ago (after I graduated, and went back to work for the school district), that high-90s% of the students met the reduced/free lunch, but only 10% took it. My mom and dad paid for all 4 of use to have our lunch at full price even though my mom and dad together brought home under $30k for most of my childhood. Even now, the school district actually offers free lunches to ALL students regardless of income levels, and again, very few families have signed up for it.
- andrepd 3y ago
  It's beyond dysfunctional that this happens in the richest country in the world. Money is a means and not an end, if you cannot ensure a decent childhood for your country's children (while less wealthy nations manage much better), what is even the point of so much economic growth?
- legitster 3y ago
  I know we are sharing anecdata from walking up the hills both ways but I'll add my own. I went to the Peoria Illinois school district. You can look it up - it was one of the poorest, worst performing, most underprivileged school districts in the state (outside of south Chicago and East St. Louis). I was on the reduced lunch program (40 cents a meal). But even we had a pretty boring affair of canned peaches and vegetables with lima beans with our Salisbury steak. Also, the application for reduced lunch was included with the registration for the school so uptake was pretty high. At the time the district was legally compelled to feed kids whether they paid or not, so they were incentivized to maximize the reimbursement from the federal government to defray the costs.
  - jermaustin1 3y ago
    If we didn't have money, our "free lunch" was a peanut butter sandwich. The problem is (at least in elementary and junior high) you probably weren't sure if your parents even paid the school for lunches. So you would get to the end of the line, select your entre, apple, and milk, and then put in your pin, and the lunch lady will take your tray back, and hand you a peanut butter sandwich (no jelly). Not sure what the free lunch is now days, but probably not peanut related.
yibg 3y ago
I went to school in a fairly affluent area a bit more than 20 years ago. Our choices for lunch were nacho and cheese, grilled cheese sandwich and frozen pizza.
- alistairSH 3y ago
  Same, Fairfax County school lunches were gross in the 80s and 90s. Meanwhile, a friend worked at Sidwell Friends for a few years and she said the food there was better than most restaurant offerings. It's good to be rich and powerful.
Symbiote 3y ago
In the UK in 2005: > Jamie's School Dinners is a four-episode documentary series that was broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 23 February to 16 March 2005. The series was recorded from Spring to Winter of 2004 and featured British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver attempting to improve the quality and nutritional value of school dinners at Kidbrooke School in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. > Oliver had his work cut out for him: firstly, the daily budget for school dinners was a mere 37 pence per child. That's currently 47¢. Wages and other costs are different, but it's in the ballpark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie%27s_School_Dinners https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie%27s_School_Dinners
- legitster 3y ago
  In the US, the federal reimbursements starts at $0.37 cents for paid lunches and goes up to $6.37 for certain free lunches. That's in addition to additional grants and aid that is available at the state and district level: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-07-26/pdf/2022-15892.pdf https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-07-26/pdf/2022-1... Maybe things are worse in the UK or food is that much cheaper - but I suspect Jamie excluding certain funding sources for the sake of drama is more likely.
  - Symbiote 3y ago
    It was a cheaper part of the country, and local funding differs — Rotherham was the lowest. However, no-one disputed the figures, and the government very quickly set 50p as a recommended minimum. This is a longer article from a year after the show aired: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/jun/25/schools.uk https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/jun/25/schools.uk

jermaustin1 3y ago

I grew up in a very impoverished, but very proud area. Kids usually get their first job at 14 to help pay for their school food and fees (even our public school had fees for basically every elective you took - and you were required to take multiple electives per year... not very elective, if you ask me). There was a number I heard years ago (after I graduated, and went back to work for the school district), that high-90s% of the students met the reduced/free lunch, but only 10% took it. My mom and dad paid for all 4 of use to have our lunch at full price even though my mom and dad together brought home under $30k for most of my childhood. Even now, the school district actually offers free lunches to ALL students regardless of income levels, and again, very few families have signed up for it.

andrepd 3y ago
It's beyond dysfunctional that this happens in the richest country in the world. Money is a means and not an end, if you cannot ensure a decent childhood for your country's children (while less wealthy nations manage much better), what is even the point of so much economic growth?
legitster 3y ago
I know we are sharing anecdata from walking up the hills both ways but I'll add my own. I went to the Peoria Illinois school district. You can look it up - it was one of the poorest, worst performing, most underprivileged school districts in the state (outside of south Chicago and East St. Louis). I was on the reduced lunch program (40 cents a meal). But even we had a pretty boring affair of canned peaches and vegetables with lima beans with our Salisbury steak. Also, the application for reduced lunch was included with the registration for the school so uptake was pretty high. At the time the district was legally compelled to feed kids whether they paid or not, so they were incentivized to maximize the reimbursement from the federal government to defray the costs.
- jermaustin1 3y ago
  If we didn't have money, our "free lunch" was a peanut butter sandwich. The problem is (at least in elementary and junior high) you probably weren't sure if your parents even paid the school for lunches. So you would get to the end of the line, select your entre, apple, and milk, and then put in your pin, and the lunch lady will take your tray back, and hand you a peanut butter sandwich (no jelly). Not sure what the free lunch is now days, but probably not peanut related.

yibg 3y ago

I went to school in a fairly affluent area a bit more than 20 years ago. Our choices for lunch were nacho and cheese, grilled cheese sandwich and frozen pizza.

alistairSH 3y ago
Same, Fairfax County school lunches were gross in the 80s and 90s. Meanwhile, a friend worked at Sidwell Friends for a few years and she said the food there was better than most restaurant offerings. It's good to be rich and powerful.

Symbiote 3y ago

In the UK in 2005: > Jamie's School Dinners is a four-episode documentary series that was broadcast on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom from 23 February to 16 March 2005. The series was recorded from Spring to Winter of 2004 and featured British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver attempting to improve the quality and nutritional value of school dinners at Kidbrooke School in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. > Oliver had his work cut out for him: firstly, the daily budget for school dinners was a mere 37 pence per child. That's currently 47¢. Wages and other costs are different, but it's in the ballpark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie%27s_School_Dinners https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie%27s_School_Dinners

legitster 3y ago
In the US, the federal reimbursements starts at $0.37 cents for paid lunches and goes up to $6.37 for certain free lunches. That's in addition to additional grants and aid that is available at the state and district level: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-07-26/pdf/2022-15892.pdf https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2022-07-26/pdf/2022-1... Maybe things are worse in the UK or food is that much cheaper - but I suspect Jamie excluding certain funding sources for the sake of drama is more likely.
- Symbiote 3y ago
  It was a cheaper part of the country, and local funding differs — Rotherham was the lowest. However, no-one disputed the figures, and the government very quickly set 50p as a recommended minimum. This is a longer article from a year after the show aired: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/jun/25/schools.uk https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/jun/25/schools.uk