Executive budget missed mark on funding healthy school meals

In June of [20]22, a federal waiver providing free breakfast and lunch to children in all New York schools expired. Gov. Kathy Hochul had a chance to make those meals possible for the 726,000 New York children who lost them, but didn’t include funding for the program in her executive budget. 

We’re disappointed that Gov. Hochul didn’t include Healthy School Meals for All in the executive budget. The executive budget missed the mark by failing to prioritize providing free breakfast and lunch in schools to all New York children.  Funding school meals is essential to achieve the shared vision of a New York where all children thrive.

We call on the Legislature to end school hunger and include funding for healthy school meals in its budget proposal. We encourage Gov. Hochul to work with lawmakers to ensure this measure is included in the final budget. 

The science is clear: providing school meals results in children doing better academically and being less likely to develop chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and diabetes—risk factors for heart disease—because they can have healthy food during the school day.

The American Heart Association was pleased that Gov. Hochul’s budget included measures to decrease tobacco use in New York and continue to fund the SNAP incentive program, Double Up Food Bucks. As the program continues to grow and reach more food-insecure New Yorkers, the Heart Association would like to see the funding “doubled up” to $4 million, to put more locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables on the tables of New York residents.

Gov. Hochul continues to take bold action by taking a stand against Big Tobacco and pushing for prohibiting the sale of flavored tobacco and increasing the state cigarette tax in her executive budget. These plans are essential steps to make tobacco products both less appealing and more expensive for youth, so they never start this deadly addiction. New York must lead the way on reducing tobacco use—which is the leading cause of preventable death and a leading cause of health disease and stroke.

Melinda Murray-Nyack, chair
American Heart Association New York State advocacy committee
New York, NY

The importance of healthy universal meals

The School Administrators Association of New York State (SAANYS) was pleased to hear Gov. Hochul emphasize her continued commitment to ensuring that all students have a “good, quality education” in her state budget presentation. SAANYS agrees with the governor that our students have been “through too much over the past few years” and that we have a great responsibility to make our students whole.

Regarding the governor’s education budget priorities, SAANYS applauds the proposed 10 percent ($34.5 billion total) increase in state aid to schools, which includes a $2.7 billion increase in Foundation Aid to achieve its full phase-in. SAANYS also supports the governor’s commitment to increasing funding for school-based mental health care, securing insurance coverage for mental health programs and services, funding to expand prekindergarten, and corresponding funding for child care.

However, SAANYS is disappointed that the governor has not included additional state funding to provide universal meals for all students. Assuring all students are provided with healthy school meals is at the core of preparing young people to succeed and thrive at school. No student should go through the day hungry or anxious about accessing their next meal. Providing universal school meals is a commonsense way to fully support our students and families, especially during these difficult economic times.

Kevin Casey, executive director, SAANYS 
Latham, NY