New California law bans school lunch debt shaming

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has signed into law a measure that guarantees students will receive state-funded lunches regardless of whether their parents or guardians have unpaid meal fees.

The bill, which was spearheaded by state Sen. Robert Hertzberg (D), prohibits so-called lunch shaming, a practice in which institutions deny students with unpaid fees a meal of their choice. It also seeks to ensure that a student “is not shamed or treated differently from other pupils” for having unpaid lunch debts. 

“Creating a ‘California for All’ means ensuring schools are inclusive, accepting, and welcoming of all kids,” Newsom said in a statement before crediting Napa County elementary school student Ryan Kyote for bringing national attention to the issue. 

Governor @GavinNewsom had the honor to meet Ryan Kyote last week. This amazing young man saved his allowance and used it to pay his classmates’ lunch debt. For Ryan, it was just wrong that some kids couldn’t afford to eat lunch. He’s right about that. #CaliforniaForAll pic.twitter.com/4DIse1OEGo

— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) August 9, 2019

{mosads}Kyote, a student at West Park Elementary School, gained widespread acclaim earlier this year after using his allowance money to pay off school lunch debts for his entire third grade class. 

“He showed how at many schools across the country, students whose parents are not able to pay for their lunch are given a cheaper, ‘alternative’ lunch that causes them to stick out from their peers,” Newsom said, thanking him “for his empathy and his courage in bringing awareness to this important issue.”

The law amends the Child Hunger Prevention and Fair Treatment Act of 2017 by requiring school districts, charter schools and education agencies to invalidate policies that ask officials to give alternative meals to students with unpaid fees. 

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) in June introduced the No Shame at School Act, which would bar any kind of identification of students who cannot pay for lunch at school. 

“Across this country, students whose families are struggling to afford school meals are being singled out and humiliated at lunchtime,” Omar said at the time. “These students are subjected to various shaming practices at schools. Some students have been literally branded with stamps.”