Child Nutrition Waivers Critical to Keeping Children Fed in Maryland During Pandemic, FRAC Report Finds
Brittani Riddle
202-640-1089 ext. 3039
briddle@frac.org
– Maryland Hunger Solutions Urges Congress to Extend Waiver Deadline Beyond This School Year to Support Families and Schools as Maryland Recovers –
BALTIMORE, February 16, 2022 — Student participation in school breakfast and lunch dropped in Maryland during the COVID-19 pandemic and school nutrition programs are still recovering, according to a new report released today by the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC).
FRAC’s The Reach of Breakfast and Lunch: A Look at Pandemic and Pre-Pandemic Participation reveals nearly 154,00 children in Maryland received breakfast and 154,00 children received lunch on an average school day during the 2020–2021 school year, a decrease of over 100,000 children, respectively, compared to breakfast and lunch participation rates in the 2018–2019 school year — the last full school year prior to the pandemic.
“Childhood hunger has spiked dramatically, both in Maryland and across the nation. This is a direct result of the public health and economic fallout of COVID-19,” said Michael J. Wilson, director, Maryland Hunger Solutions. “But things would be far worse in Maryland if not for child nutrition waivers, and the hard work of state agencies, school nutrition staff, and community-based organizations, which has promoted access to school and summer meals during this unprecedented time.”
The report provides breakfast and lunch data for every state and the District of Columbia. The 2018-2019 school year data includes participation in the School Breakfast and National School Lunch Programs. The data for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years also include participation in the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) to account for the meals provided using the child nutrition waivers that have been made available during the pandemic.
Nationwide, FRAC’s report found nearly 14 million children received breakfast and 19.8 million children received lunch on an average school day during the 2020–2021 school year, a decrease of 692,000 children and 8.8 million children, respectively, compared to breakfast and lunch participation rates in the 2018–2019 school year — the last full school year prior to the pandemic.
In 2020, Congress gave the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) the authority to issue nationwide child nutrition waivers through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. These waivers have allowed school nutrition programs, local government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to keep feeding children in the face of numerous challenges such as school closures, virtual learning, and the need to social distance. The waivers remain critical due to the ongoing supply chain disruptions and staffing shortages, and are needed to support access to meals this summer.
Without Congressional action, the waivers are set to expire on June 30, 2022.
“Now is not the time to pull the rug out from children and families,” said Wilson. “It will take a long time for many families to recover from the challenges brought on by the pandemic and we need to make sure they have the resources they need to get back on their feet. Providing healthy school meals to all Maryland students is an important priority for our state.”
Despite significant efforts by Maryland school meal providers to keep breakfast and lunch accessible during the 2020–2021 school year, continued investments are needed to support nutrition operations as they recover from the impact of the pandemic and struggle with the supply chain issues which have impacted the entire food system.
Maryland Hunger Solutions, FRAC and nearly 2,000 national, state, and local organizations from every state across the country, and the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, are urging Congress to swiftly extend USDA authority to issue nationwide waivers for the Child Nutrition Programs beyond this school year.
Read The Reach of Breakfast and Lunch report.
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Maryland Hunger Solutions works to end hunger and improve the nutrition, health, and well-being of children and families in Maryland.
The Food Research & Action Center improves the nutrition, health, and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the United States through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions. To learn more, visit FRAC.org and follow us on Twitter and on Facebook.
