I truly believe that breakfast and lunch should be free. However must school food service departments are non school company who wants to be paid for their services. It is no fun for a school principal to be hit with a $3000, bill at the end of the year, but cannot use school funds to pay it off if they even have that amount left in their budget somewhere. Food Service don't cares who pays, they just want to be paid.
My school has gotten a federal grant before to provide free breakfast and lunch to our high school kiddos (sorry, I can’t reference the name of the grant, but we did in fact start getting it several years pre-COVID). Also, I am aware of some districts that are able to leverage community partnerships with corporations (which often are required to pay zero taxes) to provide this service. It’s a win win, because even though the corporations aren’t paying taxes, they are still supporting schools for the public good, AND they benefit when those kids graduate prepared to enter the workforce.
Having been a school board member, it’s a real issues. All school meals should be free and it’s horrible that districts have come to this. The states need to stand up and make free school meals a reality, but sadly many have not.
Thanks for that insight from a board member’s perspective. I know some states do provide free meals for all kids, and some districts, too. It seems it would be tough for a district to carry the cost without some assistance from the state. But, it can and should be done.
I agree that it can and should be done. I also know from experience that boards are almost always forced to choose the lesser of two evils. If it came down to keeping a teacher or paying the lunch debt which at times is almost equaling a teachers salary, I would have chosen the teachers salary. Until the state and federal government fix it and make it free for all those are the choices districts and boards are sadly facing.
Totally agree - and states like MN are stepping up. I’ve watched year after year as the TN legislature rejects free school meal proposals - and few districts in the state can afford to absorb the cost. I’ve heard lawmakers say that students and their families need to “learn a lesson” and “face consequences” when they can’t pay for school meals. It’s sad. I appreciate your service to your community - local elected officials are silent heroes!
When I grow up I wish I could become a thuggish corporation that takes money from starving kids and hires debt collectors when the kids can't pay! Even 'better,' I want to be on the school board that votes for these thieves! How could I sleep at night???
Yep. Bill Lee's (self) touted claim that all teachers will make 50K by 2026 (2026!) won't make a bit of difference to MNPS/Nashville teachers. His vaunted "pay raise" does nothing for us. His "pay raise" for teachers is no raise at all for us in Nashville. We will already be making that. Meanwhile, the cost of living rises, and our pay doesn't keep up with it. And we are short teachers. My school is lacking teachers for: Anatomy, Chemistry, Math, and History. School starts tomorrow.
Also, school administrators/principals got something like a average 20% raise this year. It's like teachers are always last. We got a 4% raise this year while all other city employees got a 6% raise. The school board blames the city council, and the city council blames the school board. Meanwhile, the teacher churn continues. We won't even see the pay raise until October. Our pay does not keep up with increases in cost-of-living, and that has been a huge problem with attracting and retaining teachers.
Yes - minimum pay should be 60K - and the scale should be adjusted accordingly - in cities like Nashville, after 10 years, pay should be at or above 100K - it's affordable if we want it to be.
I've always thought that teachers should also get free meals to compensate for our low pay. Unlike people who work in the private sector, we get virtually no perks...no bottles of water in the fridge, no coffee, no nothing. I bet plenty of teachers would be happy to get the financial help from free meals. It's just a thought. There are teachers- notably single moms- who go to food banks. A community that doesn't care for its teachers, doesn't care about its kids either.
That would be a nice perk, Susan - I also find it interesting that State Troopers saw a $19,000 raise in starting pay this year - and corrections officers received a hefty raise last year - sure, these raises are deserved - but why not also raise teacher pay?
I truly believe that breakfast and lunch should be free. However must school food service departments are non school company who wants to be paid for their services. It is no fun for a school principal to be hit with a $3000, bill at the end of the year, but cannot use school funds to pay it off if they even have that amount left in their budget somewhere. Food Service don't cares who pays, they just want to be paid.
My school has gotten a federal grant before to provide free breakfast and lunch to our high school kiddos (sorry, I can’t reference the name of the grant, but we did in fact start getting it several years pre-COVID). Also, I am aware of some districts that are able to leverage community partnerships with corporations (which often are required to pay zero taxes) to provide this service. It’s a win win, because even though the corporations aren’t paying taxes, they are still supporting schools for the public good, AND they benefit when those kids graduate prepared to enter the workforce.
Having been a school board member, it’s a real issues. All school meals should be free and it’s horrible that districts have come to this. The states need to stand up and make free school meals a reality, but sadly many have not.
Thanks for that insight from a board member’s perspective. I know some states do provide free meals for all kids, and some districts, too. It seems it would be tough for a district to carry the cost without some assistance from the state. But, it can and should be done.
I agree that it can and should be done. I also know from experience that boards are almost always forced to choose the lesser of two evils. If it came down to keeping a teacher or paying the lunch debt which at times is almost equaling a teachers salary, I would have chosen the teachers salary. Until the state and federal government fix it and make it free for all those are the choices districts and boards are sadly facing.
Totally agree - and states like MN are stepping up. I’ve watched year after year as the TN legislature rejects free school meal proposals - and few districts in the state can afford to absorb the cost. I’ve heard lawmakers say that students and their families need to “learn a lesson” and “face consequences” when they can’t pay for school meals. It’s sad. I appreciate your service to your community - local elected officials are silent heroes!
When I grow up I wish I could become a thuggish corporation that takes money from starving kids and hires debt collectors when the kids can't pay! Even 'better,' I want to be on the school board that votes for these thieves! How could I sleep at night???
I can’t imagine even thinking about hiring a debt collector to collect on school lunch debt instead of finding a creative way to eliminate that debt.
Yep. Bill Lee's (self) touted claim that all teachers will make 50K by 2026 (2026!) won't make a bit of difference to MNPS/Nashville teachers. His vaunted "pay raise" does nothing for us. His "pay raise" for teachers is no raise at all for us in Nashville. We will already be making that. Meanwhile, the cost of living rises, and our pay doesn't keep up with it. And we are short teachers. My school is lacking teachers for: Anatomy, Chemistry, Math, and History. School starts tomorrow.
Also, school administrators/principals got something like a average 20% raise this year. It's like teachers are always last. We got a 4% raise this year while all other city employees got a 6% raise. The school board blames the city council, and the city council blames the school board. Meanwhile, the teacher churn continues. We won't even see the pay raise until October. Our pay does not keep up with increases in cost-of-living, and that has been a huge problem with attracting and retaining teachers.
Yes - minimum pay should be 60K - and the scale should be adjusted accordingly - in cities like Nashville, after 10 years, pay should be at or above 100K - it's affordable if we want it to be.
I've always thought that teachers should also get free meals to compensate for our low pay. Unlike people who work in the private sector, we get virtually no perks...no bottles of water in the fridge, no coffee, no nothing. I bet plenty of teachers would be happy to get the financial help from free meals. It's just a thought. There are teachers- notably single moms- who go to food banks. A community that doesn't care for its teachers, doesn't care about its kids either.
That would be a nice perk, Susan - I also find it interesting that State Troopers saw a $19,000 raise in starting pay this year - and corrections officers received a hefty raise last year - sure, these raises are deserved - but why not also raise teacher pay?