SE Valley Times

School-age children across Arizona will receive free meals this upcoming school year, partly due to research by Arizona State University’s Food Policy and Environmental Research Group.

In early June, the Arizona Legislature passed a budget that included $3.8 million in general funds to provide free school meals for low-income children attending public and charter schools. This marks the first time in the state’s history that general funding has been used to support school meals.

“It’s very satisfying when you see evidence-informed policy being implemented,” said Punam Ohri-Vachaspati, a professor of nutrition in ASU's College of Health Solutions and head of the Food Policy and Environmental Research Group. “And I think across all the years that I’ve been working, this is the fastest I’ve seen research being turned into policy.”

In 2022, the Arizona Food Bank Network contacted ASU’s food policy group, which began in 2010 and comprises ASU faculty, postdoctoral students, graduate and undergraduate students.

A series of waivers that had covered meal costs during the pandemic was expiring, prompting the Food Bank Network to request an assessment from ASU on covering reduced-price co-pays—40 cents for lunch and 30 cents for breakfast—and conducting a survey of parents, school officials, and community members.

The survey received responses from more than 2,300 parents and 1,300 members of the school community through six Arizona school districts and other grassroots organizations using what Ohri-Vachaspati called a “snowball sampling technique.” Respondents were asked about the benefit of school meals during the pandemic and about implementing similar policies post-waiver expiration.

Sarah Martinelli, a clinical associate professor in the College of Health Solutions and member of the food policy research group, noted strong support among respondents for maintaining free student meals. “We asked people to report things like their political affiliation, their education level, their income—all of that—and the support was consistent among those groups,” Martinelli said.

Several factors were cited in favor of continuing free meals. Parents mentioned stress related to meal planning; food service staff preferred not having to collect money from students; teachers felt burdened by providing food once COVID waivers ended. “Teachers are overburdened in many ways,” Martinelli added. “So anytime students get more access to food reduces some burden on teachers.”

Ohri-Vachaspati emphasized that school meals are among children's healthiest daily foods. “These meals’ nutritional quality has improved,” she said. “They’re going to improve further because school meal requirements have been revamped... If we can provide these meals to more children there are nutritional benefits at both individual and community levels.”

Using survey data, the Arizona Food Bank Network secured funding for co-pays from January 2023 to June 2024 with COVID relief dollars. With temporary funding ending after 2023–24, they worked with legislators to secure $3.8 million in state budget funds.

Patti Bilbrey from Scottsdale Unified School District called state reimbursement a “game changer.” She expressed relief at not having families resume payments post-pandemic: "They’re barely making ends meet as it is."

ASU's food policy group continues its research at the request of the food bank evaluating co-pay implementation impacts on students and families.

“We are delighted this made it into this year’s budget,” Ohri-Vachaspati stated. “But we want this policy consistent moving forward.”

“This is coolest thing I’ve done in my job for sure,” Martinelli concluded.