Children are still going hungry at school. Let’s fix that.

In my job as a school nutrition director, there’s nothing more heartbreaking at my job than telling a family of four earning just $56,000 per year — far below a livable wage in New York — that they make too much money to qualify for free school meals. Students from those families must make an impossible choice: Skip meals while at school, or accrue meal debt for their family.

We school nutrition directors are then tasked with calling that family to collect debt, despite knowing they cannot afford to pay.

This is the reality for too many school nutrition directors across New York. Last school year, 126 New York districts accumulated $1.4 million in unplanned meal debt.

To balance their books, many districts must draw down from general funds. That means less money for necessities like staffing and technology.

This system is broken. It fails our kids and our schools.

Last year, New York dramatically expanded access to free school meals, delivering immediate relief to many families and school meal programs. But the funding did not cover all schools, and nearly 660 schools, totaling more than 320,000 students, remain without access to free school meals.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature must close the gap and fully fund healthy school meals for all in the state budget.

A statewide universal free school meal program will allow school nutrition programs to focus our energy on what we’re most passionate about: feeding kids. Chasing families for school meal debt is not only heart-wrenching, it also pulls away capacity from delivering the appealing, nutritious meals our students deserve. Universal meals allow us to focus on improving meal quality and expanding scratch cooking. Greater staff capacity and buying power also enable us to expand farm-to-school programs that provide fresh local food in our schools.

New York’s schools nourish young minds from kindergar

ten through graduation. School meals are a vital resource to safeguard children from hunger — but only if all students have access.

I cannot overstate the need for this critical investment. Make school meals free for all children. Our schools, families and students can no longer wait.

Patrick Kenneally is a local school lunch director and the public policy and legislative committee chair for the New York School Nutrition Association.