Wisconsin Assembly Rep. Francesca Hong on free school meals for all

Democratic Wisconsin state Assembly Rep. Francesca Hong joins to talk about her bill Health School Meals for All, hoping there’s a way to work it into the budget.

The bill would provide breakfast and lunch to all students in all schools — public or private. We discuss the benefits of the bill but also how Republicans will likely withhold it from even getting a public hearing. 

While a bill to advance postpartum Medicaid coverage in the state passed the Senate 32-1 in back-to-back sessions now, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos won’t even let that bill get a vote — let alone let one to feed children sniff a committee hearing.

Hong, though, tells us that it’s not because Republicans are afraid to speak out against the bill.

Minnesota just passed a free-school-meals bill last year and the federal government did this for a time during COVID but let it expire. 

In La Crosse, 52% of students are on free or reduced school meals. But, what this bill would do, is end the red tape that parents have to jump through to get enrolled. Instead, with Hong’s bill, if parents didn’t want to partake in the free school meals, they could simply opt out.

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