HB282 provides that all eligible students shall be provided with school breakfast and lunch “free of charge,” while requiring the state’s Department of Education to reimburse the governing authorities of school nutrition programs.
The Senate passed HB282 on June 7, 2023, by a vote of 36 to 0. We have assigned minuses to the yeas because neither feeding children nor educating them is the role of government—rather, each of these responsibilities belongs to a child’s parents or family. The state has absolutely no “duty to furnish” school meals, which, in fact, do not come at “no cost.” The reality is that these cradle-to-grave types of government dependency not only cause more debt and poverty, but continue the irresponsible and unconstitutional use of taxpayer money. The hard-working citizens of Louisiana ought not to be disparaged of their right to the income they have earned to fund all that now entails a compulsory, failing, and government-run K-12 school system.