State Rep. Nancy Gutierrez has seen firsthand the impact of food insecurity on her high school students. Now, she’s pushing for a solution. Her bill, HB 2213, would use $3.8 million from the state to make school lunches free to eligible Arizona students starting in July.
Gutierrez, a Democrat representing District 18, in Pima County, is the sponsor of this bipartisan budget bill. Matt Gress, chairman of the House Education Committee and a Republican representing District 4 of Maricopa County and David Livingston, chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations and a Republican who represents District 28 in Maricopa and Yavapai counties, have also supported it.
Eligibility for reduced-price lunch is based on a student’s household size and income.
Gutierrez said while this bill is focused on low-income families, her ultimate goal is for breakfasts and lunches to be provided to all Arizona students. No student should worry about when they will get their next meal, she said.
“If people think it’s a good idea for reduced lunches to be free across our state, they should reach out to their representatives and ask them to vote yes, ask them to have it be in the budget and encourage their lawmakers to make this happen,” she said. Find your reps here.
Arizona Luminaria chatted with Gutierrez on Zoom about the bill. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What is the estimated number of students in Arizona who would meet the proposed eligibility requirements for free or reduced-price school lunches?
A: It’s complicated because many school districts in Arizona have taken steps to provide the funding so that all of their students eat for free. Right now, they do that with Title I funds, sometimes with our fund money.
But, we estimated that it would cost about $3.8 million. It’s what was in the budget last year. And what we’ve said in the bill, and to everybody that we’re asking to vote for this, is: if the $3.8 million ends up being too much and it’s not all needed, the money would return to the general fund. So, it wouldn’t stay with the school districts or stay for meal programs.
Although I would love it if every student in Arizona got free breakfast and lunch, and that’s about $100 million. I will not stop working on that.
Q: What challenges do you anticipate in getting this bill passed, and how are you expecting to address these concerns?
A: Well, already, I’ve heard some concerns because we had three no votes in the education committee and then two no votes in the appropriations committee, and those people, those representatives, Republican representatives, talked about that they feel like there should be a program where there’s like a step from free meals to full-price meals. I think that’s ridiculous.
I think groceries are expensive for families right now. This group of people are families of four who make less than $57,000 a year in Arizona, so I don’t believe that having them pay $0.40 a lunch is of any benefit. I believe that these are families who work hard and because Arizona doesn’t have very high wages for many positions, they’re struggling. The very least that we could do is take this burden off of them so that they know their children are getting nutritious breakfasts and lunches.
It’s hard to combat that type of thinking because I just don’t understand why you would deny a child a meal, but I am going to be working on whatever I can do to change their minds. The other barrier might be that we will have a tight budget most likely, although I think $3.8 million in the budget is not very much when compared to everything else. I would ask that they prioritize feeding our children over maybe some pet projects that will be in the budget. It should be a no-brainer.
Q: During this past January’s federal aid freeze, U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia suggested that some students should be working instead of receiving free lunch. How would you respond to those who believe free lunch programs are unnecessary, and what misconceptions about these programs do you think are important to address?
A: I did see that person. His comments just really proved how disassociated a lot of lawmakers are from what actually happens in public schools. I think that saying that a kindergartener should be working for their food is the most insane idea I’ve ever heard.
I teach high school and many of my high schoolers have jobs after school and that money goes to their family budget so that they can afford groceries. I think that it’s very privileged thinking to just chalk up the need for reduced or free lunch to, ‘oh, people aren’t working.’
The truth is, Arizona pays workers very little; so does Georgia, and when we don’t have a minimum wage that someone working 40 hours a week could feed their family with, how dare they suggest that children get a job.
Q: In politics today, bipartisanship seems to be unpopular or even unwanted. How did this bipartisan group come together, and why is this a bipartisan issue?
A: I am thrilled that it is a bipartisan issue. It gives me hope. The truth is, I’ve been working on this for three years with Arizona Food Bank Network and with Feed Arizona’s Students, and we’ve been trying to come at this from every angle with scientific facts about feeding kids – they do better in school, they have better attendance, they have fewer behavior issues – there are so many reasons to feed our students.
I was very grateful to Chairman Gress and Chairman Livingston for understanding that and for putting a Democrat’s bill on both of their agendas and for the other Republicans who voted for it. I think that most of us do understand that kids should eat and kids should not worry about where they’re going to find food.
I feel very honored to carry a bill that is bipartisan. Like I said, I’ve been working on it since I got to the legislature and am hopeful about this being in the budget and I’m not going to stop at reduced and free. I am going to keep working until we get all lunches and breakfasts free for all of our students.
Q: As an educator, do you believe your experience has shaped your perspective on the need for free school meals? Are there any examples you can think of where food insecurity impacted students in your classroom?
A: Oh my goodness, yeah. During Covid, when we came back from teaching online, all breakfasts and lunches were free for everyone. That is really when I saw the impact of students just knowing they could just go get food. They didn’t have to worry about qualifying or having the right ticket or whatever it is, and as teachers, we had to keep convincing them, “no you just get to eat, please go eat.” I was surprised at how healthy the meals were. The salads were amazing. The teachers were like, “can we get free meals too?” Which I think would be a great program.
Students were, first of all, very grateful. It was such a crazy and stressful time. Many of them were eating, and I saw, especially for students after lunch, they were much more focused. I teach yoga, so it’s a physical class. They had more energy in the afternoon than usual.
As for food insecurity, because I am in the Physical Education department, I have always done this as a teacher and the P.E. department at Tucson High has always done this, we buy bulk granola bars and non-perishable food as does our counseling department and our social workers.
We buy that out of our own money because I never want students to be hungry. If someone is hungry, I want them to be able to open up a drawer in my classroom and say, ‘here, take something, eat it.’ Many of us teachers have given students our lunches because it’s the right thing to do.
It’s beyond me that anyone would not see that. However, that is what I’m hearing from some of the folks at the House. It’s clear to me that they’re not in the schools and they do not understand what is going on and they do not understand how difficult some Arizona families have it right now.
Q: Can you help us understand the next steps for this bill, between here and the governor’s desk?
A: Typically, a regular bill, a non-budget bill, it would pass whatever committees it was assigned to and then it would go to the floor to be voted on in the third read, and then it would head over to the Senate and have that same process — committee and floor — and then it would go to the governor’s desk. This one, it may do that.
It is a budget bill, so this may be a bill that is simply negotiated in the budget. It will be an interesting journey to see where 2213 goes from here, but I’m hopeful it will be in the budget and be signed and be a great motivator for Democrats to be able to sign onto the budget.
Q: If HB2213 passes, what will be the next steps for implementation? What timeline do you envision for these steps?
A: It won’t officially pass until it’s in the budget, so that’s probably May, maybe June, and then, once the governor signs the budget, it would be in the next fiscal year’s budget, so that would be July that those funds would be released.
Q: How do you plan to measure the success of this legislation if it is enacted?
A: Just by knowing that kids are eating.
I am hearing from so many advocacy groups, constituents and students across the state and they’re just so excited, and I’m so excited. This bill got a shoutout on social media with TheDemocrats. That just made me so happy that if Arizona can make sure kids eat, then other red states can do the same.
I hope this is just the little snowball gaining momentum across the country.
This story first appeared in Arizona Luminaria.
