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Parents and advocates demand full funding for school meals amid quality, participation concerns
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Summary
Parents, food‑policy advocates and grandparents urged the board to protect food‑service funding and improve meal quality, citing hunger, chronic absenteeism and the need for scratch‑cooking and Farm to School partnership investment.
Several speakers asked the board to avoid cuts to food services and to invest in higher‑quality school meals that increase participation and address child hunger.
Christy Miller (S9) opened the discussion on meals by saying children are returning from school hungry and urging the board to “do better” with healthy lunches, kitchen partnerships and choices. The Rochester Food Policy Council, represented by Candace Williams (S22), urged the board to fully fund food services and specifically to avoid reductions in budget line 54‑10 (food for resale and provisions), arguing that cuts would force reliance on highly processed foods and could reduce state reimbursement revenue tied to meal participation.
Speakers pointed to chronic absenteeism and food quality as linked issues: advocates argued that appealing, culturally relevant meals and scratch cooking can raise participation and improve attendance. Several speakers proposed concrete steps such as joining the New York State Farm to School program, forming a meals advisory committee and using supplemental funds to support meal quality.
The superintendent reiterated that the budget remains preliminary; no final board action on food‑service funding was taken at the hearing. Advocates said they would continue to press for line‑item protections as the district finalizes its budget pending state funding outcomes.
