More Biased Media Coverage: Poor Waukesha School Kids Will Still Get Free Lunches
The Waukesha School District is just pulling out of a program that gave kids free lunches regardless of income. Poor kids would still get free lunches.
Have you seen the negative stories making the Waukesha School Board members look like a bunch of misers who don't want to give kids free lunches? The truth is that kids in Waukesha will still get free meals if they are low-income.
But you wouldn't know it from some news stories; instead, the district is being blasted in headlines nationwide. The media also fixated on a single school board member's quote that staying in the universal program could make some families "spoiled," truncating her full quote in a way that made it sound worse and lose context (we give you the full quote later in this article.)
Some of the media's reporting on the Waukesha School District pulling out of a pandemic-related "universal" school lunch program is unfair. What some stories don't tell readers: The Waukesha School District is just switching back to a pre-pandemic program that requires you to be impoverished to get the free lunches. In other words, if your parent makes $300,000 a year and drives a BMW, you're probably not going to qualify.
In fact, the Waukesha School District has made it pretty easy for low-income parents to still apply for free Waukesha school lunches. There's a huge green button on the district's website that you can't miss:
Yes, that means that low-income kids would still get free lunches funded by the feds under the change.
The Waukesha School District is just pulling out of a program that gave kids free lunches regardless of income.
Perhaps the real question is why affluent kids, whose parents can afford it, need federally funded free lunches in other Wisconsin school districts? But no one in the media bothers to ask that question because it doesn't match the spin. It's clear from many of the news stories that the reporters believe all kids, regardless of income, should get free lunches paid for by taxpayers.
Some of the stories and protests have tried to come up with reasons that makes sense - for example, that some kids who need them don't apply due to stigma or that some parents who qualify don't bother to apply. Either way, to properly judge, readers of all stories should be told the full story.
The actual story was better, explaining that 97% of school districts were eligible for universal free lunch. When you clicked on the story, you got a more accurate headline: "Every eligible Wisconsin school district is providing all students free meals this year. Except Waukesha."
Yes, that means that low-income kids would still get free lunches funded by the feds under the change.
The Waukesha School District is just pulling out of a program that gave kids free lunches regardless of income.
Perhaps the real question is why affluent kids, whose parents can afford it, need federally funded free lunches in other Wisconsin school districts? But no one in the media bothers to ask that question because it doesn't match the spin. It's clear from many of the news stories that the reporters believe all kids, regardless of income, should get free lunches paid for by taxpayers.
Some of the stories and protests have tried to come up with reasons that makes sense - for example, that some kids who need them don't apply due to stigma or that some parents who qualify don't bother to apply. Either way, to properly judge, readers of all stories should be told the full story.
The District Provided Details Ignored in Some News Coverage
The district has taken great pains to alert the community to the facts and context behind an issue that has led to negative headlines and protests, posting a lengthy press release. The district is concerned that the universal free-for-all-regardless-of income program made it more likely that the district won't have applications from low-income parents for free Waukesha school lunches for their kids. Thus, the number of applications has dropped. The district has a concern that this could affect other funding, a point that didn't make it into many news stories. “For example, the District’s Title One Grant allocation uses the level of free and reduced lunch participation as one of their key determinants in calculating our annual allocation,” the district noted. “…with free and reduced meal students declining, it doesn’t paint an accurate picture of need in our district.” The district noted, “Deciding not to participate in the SFSP does not mean we are not providing for our neediest students. The District will be returning to the National School Lunch program (free/reduced lunch program) that has served students across this country for decades. We will still continue to have universal free breakfast at the schools that meet the program qualifications. We will continue to work directly with families on an individual basis.” The district said a lot of free breakfasts ended up "in the trash," and summer participation indicated lowering demand for free meals. There would have been a "small financial gain" to the district from staying in the universal program, though. The district also noted that although the news stories stated that the District is the only one in the state choosing to leave (note the semantics) the universal free lunch program, that does not mean it’s the only one that doesn’t participate in it. There are districts (or just their high schools) in the state “that don’t participate in any federal lunch program that will likely not participate in the SFSP (universal free lunch)," says the district. You would get a very different impression if you saw this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headline on Google:
The actual story was better, explaining that 97% of school districts were eligible for universal free lunch. When you clicked on the story, you got a more accurate headline: "Every eligible Wisconsin school district is providing all students free meals this year. Except Waukesha."
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