Last week was National School Lunch Week, which sparked some interesting conversations on social media. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that would put an end to state schools giving “alternative meals” to students who have unpaid lunch bills.

In a press release, Newsom said, “Kids at school were shamed and singled out because of inadequate funds in their school lunch accounts.”

Meanwhile, earlier this month, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) introduced a bill to Congress that would provide up to three free meals per day to all U.S. schoolchildren, regardless of family income level.

According to Newsweek: “The Universal School Meals Program Act would eliminate any requirement for families to prove they earn less than 185 percent of the national poverty level in order for students to be eligible for the meals. It would also remove reduced cost school meals, in favor of making free meals available to all students.”

Now, I think we could discuss the pros and cons of these “free” meals for quite some time. No pun intended, but I think there are two schools of thought on this topic.

On one hand, we all know that free is never actually free. I’m inherently distrusting of career politicians promising to implement a free lunch for all kids. How well do they execute any government program? Is there a better way to provide adequate nutrition for all kids than what the government can provide?

On the other hand, I cannot in good conscience turn away or shame a child who doesn’t have enough lunch money in his/her account to buy breakfast or lunch. These children shouldn’t be punished because their parents are struggling and are unable to give them money for meals at schools.

But how big of a problem is this, really?

According to the School Nutrition Assoc. (SNA), nearly 100,000 U.S. schools serve school lunches to 29.8 million students each day. Of those meals, 20.2 million are free, 1.8 million are reduced-price (student pays 40 cents per meal), and 7.7 million are full-price.

The SNA explains that in order to qualify for free or reduced meals, “children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are eligible for free school meals. Those with incomes between 130-185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced-price meals.

“For the 2019-20 school year, 130 percent of the poverty level is $33,475 for a family of four and 185 percent is $47,638. Children from families with incomes over 185 percent of poverty pay full price for their meals. Local school districts set their own prices for paid meals.”

This information weighs on me heavily. The fact that one in five kids goes to bed hungry each night in the United States today is so incredibly sad. What’s even more troubling is we live in the land of abundance, where 40 percent of the food grown in the U.S. goes uneaten and ends up in landfills.

Even scarier, we have politicians like New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio who are implementing Meatless Mondays in all public schools in the Big Apple. Considering 10 percent of the kids living in New York City are homeless and 75 percent qualify for reduced or free lunches, I find this incredibly elitist and disturbing that DeBlasio is imposing his political ideologies on his young constituents who desperately need a good meal (that includes meat, dairy, and eggs) to fuel their days.

Why take a nutritious product off the menu? That only hurts the food-insecure in his district, and to me, that’s incredibly sad.

What’s more, as the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans are formed, it’s my hope that we’ll see less of the tired plant-based recommendations that have made us so sick and fat in the first place, and we’ll replace it with common-sense and nutrient-dense foods like meat, dairy, and eggs.

Our kids (and their parents, too) deserve better.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Amanda Radke may write to her in care of this publication.