Days after Washoe County was forced to end its guaranteed school meals program due to Joe Lombardo’s veto, NV Dems delivered lunch boxes to Republican offices with a letter from Washoe County School Board President and mom, Beth Smith. This comes after Washoe County drained its savings – meant for support staff salaries and cafeteria improvements – to fill the void for hardworking families created by Lombardo’s veto.
Despite being fact-checked, Assembly Deputy Minority Whip Danielle Gallant called school lunches for hungry kids “wasteful government spending” and on the Senate side, Carrie Buck said that the budget won’t be on “wasted food.” The Nevada Assembly Republican Caucus doubled down claiming that ensuring no student in Nevada goes hungry would be a waste of money.
Reno Gazette-Journal (OPINION): Gov. Lombardo, your veto means Washoe County kids go hungry
Beth Smith
- As President of the Washoe County School Board, but more importantly as a mom of two kids, I know why feeding children is so important and how devastating hunger is on students’ ability to learn. As a parent, I work hard every day to provide for my family, and I am frustrated — heartbroken, even — by Gov. Joe Lombardo’s decision to veto the bipartisan bill that would have guaranteed school meals for all Washoe County kids. Many families are like mine; we do our best to balance work, family life and all the challenges that come with raising children. One thing that’s a no-brainer is the importance of feeding kids. Unfortunately, Joe Lombardo got it wrong, and because of him, students in our county will go without free access to nutritious meals at school — often the only food they get in a day.
- Gov. Lombardo likes to call himself the “education governor,” but his veto of school meals last session says otherwise. Instead of standing up for Nevada’s children, he has chosen to play political games at their expense and now WCSD has been forced to drain its savings to provide guaranteed meals for just the first month of school. After that, kids and families are on their own at dozens of schools. Joe Lombardo asked for $25 million to furnish his and his staffs’ offices, but is refusing to provide meals for Nevada students, saying doing so would be a waste of money. It’s easy for him to make these decisions from the comfort of the Governor’s Mansion.
- I understand and have heard the arguments against feeding kids, like “Can’t the kids who need it just fill out the paperwork?” Well, sure, but I know from being on the school board that any bureaucratic barriers, like paperwork, mean fewer families apply. Also, those kids who go to school with more well-off peers are often embarrassed to use free lunch vouchers in front of friends and instead don’t use them and go hungry.
- Then there is, “We shouldn’t have to pay for rich kids to have food!” Well, if that means kids who need food get food, then it’s worth it to me. Also, if guaranteed meals give parents a little extra money in their budget, then that’s money available for groceries at home or clothes, which is better for our whole local economy.
- Food insecurity and economic hardship exist in every neighborhood. Deciding which kids freely eat with dignity versus those who can’t by their ZIP code and affluence of their neighbors is wrong.
- What the governor doesn’t seem to understand is that this issue goes beyond politics. It’s about the well-being of our children. Studies have shown that students perform better academically when they have access to nutritious meals. By blocking this bill, Lombardo has made it harder for countless children to reach their full potential simply because their parents make as little as just over $40,000 a year as a family of four, because in his words that means they’re “well-to-do”.
- I talk to our neighbors daily, and every reasonable Republican, Democrat and nonpartisan I’ve met agrees that feeding our kids during the school day is common sense. Gov. Lombardo and those extreme Republicans in the Legislature who are against this are sending a message that only some of Nevada’s children are worth supporting and that’s unacceptable, especially after they voted against the Education Budget altogether. Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed in the classroom, and part of that success is having the nutrition they need to thrive.
- It’s time for voters to elect a legislature that will deliver for working families and guarantee meals for all Nevada’s children because we can’t fill kids’ minds when their stomachs are empty.
###
