Issue: Safety Net

School breakfast for all: What Alabama can do to help feed all of our kids

By Alabama Arise

By Carol Gundlach, senior policy analyst, and LaTrell Clifford Wood, hunger policy advocate | January 2025

Overview

Alabama can and should do more to equip our children and our schools for success. One big step would be to provide school breakfast for all our children. And our lawmakers can make major progress toward that goal this year with a modest allocation from the Education Trust Fund (ETF) budget.

Alabama Arise is recommending an ETF appropriation of $16 million to support public schools, including public charter schools, that wish to provide breakfast to all their students. 

From this amount, each of the 1,459 Alabama schools participating in the National School Lunch Program would be eligible to receive a $5,000 base grant to upgrade their food service capacities.

The remaining $8.7 million could be distributed to eligible schools to bring their breakfast service reimbursements to the maximum possible federal level.

The benefits of school breakfast

Children who start the day with breakfast learn better, participate more in class and are less likely to skip school than are kids who don’t get breakfast. But tight family budgets, busy mornings and before-daylight bus routes can mean many children arrive at school hungry. School districts across the country have found that breakfast for all children, served after the first bell, reduces hunger and helps kids learn.

It’s time for Alabama’s school districts to join their peers nationwide in feeding breakfast to all of our kids. Here are just a few of the benefits:

School breakfast reduces child hunger across our state. In Alabama, 23% of school-age children are food insecure, meaning they do not always have enough to eat or know when they will get their next meal. That rate is even higher among children of color. School breakfast could guarantee a morning meal for all Alabama children during the school day. School breakfast for all kids also allows schools to experiment with food delivery services like grab-and-go kiosks or breakfast in the classroom that increase participation and make sure kids are ready to start the day.

School breakfast reduces chronic absenteeism. Nearly 1 in 5 Alabama children have been chronically absent from school, and 53% of Alabama schools have high absenteeism rates. Research has shown that students who get breakfast at school have improved attendance and decreased tardiness, according to the Food Research and Action Center. 

School breakfast improves standardized testing and math scores. Alabama ranks 48th in average math ACT scores. Academic achievement improves, especially for math, when breakfast is available for school-age children.

School breakfast reduces behavioral problems. Child hunger contributes to impulsivity, hyperactivity, irritability, aggression, anxiety and substance abuse, according to the National Institutes of Health. Reducing hunger would reduce these behaviors.

How Alabama lawmakers can help feed children

The Alabama Legislature can help schools offer school breakfast for all children.  The Legislature can help feed Alabama’s schoolchildren by appropriating ETF dollars to match federal funds for school breakfast. Schools that choose to offer breakfast to all their children can use these matching funds to give all their students breakfast at the start of the school day. Thirty-five other states are considering similar legislation, and eight states have approved some form of school meals for every child.

How is school breakfast funded now? Many schools already provide breakfast for all children, but other schools need state help. Some Alabama schools offer breakfast to income-eligible children under the traditional federal School Breakfast Program, administered by the Alabama State Department of Education. 

Schools with a significant number of low-income children can receive the maximum federal reimbursement for all meals served. But some Alabama schools can’t make the federal reimbursement rate work for them without additional state or local dollars. And some Alabama schools would like to offer breakfast for all their children but don’t want to deal with federal regulations that might impact their Title 1 distribution to local schools.

Bottom line

Providing school breakfast at all public schools would be an important step to improve child nutrition and student success. An ETF budget appropriation of approximately $16 million would allow Alabama schools to be made whole if they can’t receive the maximum federal reimbursement for these meals. This support for school breakfast for all would help children grow, thrive and learn across Alabama.

Las prioridades legislativas de Alabama Arise para 2025

By Alabama Arise

Más de 150 grupos miembros de Alabama Arise y más de 1,500 miembros individuales eligen todos los años nuestras prioridades legislativas. Este proceso garantiza que los habitantes de Alabama más afectados por la pobreza participen de las decisiones. A continuación se enumeran las prioridades que nuestros miembros eligieron para 2025.

Para obtener una versión de este documento en PDF, haga clic aquí o en el botón de “Descargar” (Download) arriba.

Reforma impositiva – Un sistema impositivo más equitativo puede ayudar a la gente con problemas a llegar a fin de mes. Alabama debería quitar el impuesto a los alimentos y asegurar financiación justa y sostenible para servicios esenciales. 

Presupuestos estatales adecuados – Los servicios públicos fuertes amplían las oportunidades para todos. Alabama debe ampliar Medicaid y proteger los fondos para las escuelas públicas. También debe reducir el hambre y las dificultades respaldando el desayuno gratuito universal en las escuelas públicas.

Derecho al voto – Todos merecen su voz en nuestra democracia. Alabama debe aprobar el voto temprano sin excusas y eliminar barreras para la restauración del derecho al voto para quienes no lo tienen. 

Reforma de justicia penal – Nuestro sistema de justicia debe asegurar la justicia y la equidad para todos. Alabama debe mejorar el sistema de libertad condicional, reformar las leyes de sentencias punitivas y reducir la dependencia de multas y tarifas como fuente de ingresos. 

Atención médica maternoinfantil – La salud y seguridad de las familias es de suma importancia. Alabama debe mejorar el acceso a atención médica de alta calidad, asegurar que no se criminalice la atención vital durante el embarazo y extender la licencia prenatal para empleados y maestros en el estado.

Transporte público – La conexión comunitaria es esencial. Alabama debe financiar el Fondo Fiduciario de Transporte Público para que todos puedan llegar al trabajo, la escuela, la atención médica y más.

Reforma de pena de muerte – Todos en Alabama merecen la misma justicia según la ley. Un paso clave en esta dirección sería aplicar la prohibición de Alabama de anulación judicial de veredictos de jurado de manera retroactiva, para aplicarla a personas sentenciadas bajo esta política, ahora ilegal.

The federal policy fights and opportunities ahead for Alabama Arise

By Carol Gundlach

Alabama Arise and our members have worked for more than 35 years to push for policies that improve the lives of people struggling to make ends meet. We have remained steadfast in this mission and our values, and we will continue that commitment in the coming years.

Arise is deeply concerned about the prospect of harmful federal tax and budget changes next year. And we are working closely with national allies and those in other states to educate and advocate on these issues. We’ll be calling on you, our members and partners, to help us protect Alabamians with low incomes. We will be responding to numerous federal issues in 2025. These include:

Tax cuts for the wealthiest households

Federal tax cuts passed in 2017 benefited wealthy people and highly profitable corporations at the expense of revenue for essential services like public education and health care. We expect Congress to move quickly to try to renew these skewed tax giveaways to the wealthiest households and corporations. We also are concerned that targeted tax credits for people with low incomes, including the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, might be cut to offset the cost of tax cuts for wealthy households.

Federal funding cuts for human services

Arise and our partners expect Congress will try to freeze or reduce spending on services that help working people, in an effort to offset the cost of tax giveaways to the wealthiest Americans. Services at risk could include education services for struggling students, affordable housing and public transportation. Congress also could reduce state grants under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides income and work supports for people with extremely low incomes.

We also expect to see proposals to cut food aid under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and health coverage under Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (known as ALL Kids in Alabama) and the Affordable Care Act. We are particularly worried about the possibility of state block grants or privatization of health care programs.

A bearded Black man wearing a black suit jacket, white dress shirt and yellow tie speaks behind a lectern. Alabama Arise supporters stand behind and to either side of him.
Alabama Arise board president Clyde Jones emphasizes the health and economic benefits of Medicaid expansion during Arise Legislative Day on April 2, 2024, in Montgomery. Arise will oppose any efforts to slash Medicaid funding or impose harmful structural changes to Medicaid. (Photo by Julie Bennett)

Arise expects to fight against harmful new work reporting requirements for participants in Medicaid, SNAP, affordable housing and similar programs. These would result in many costly paperwork barriers and arbitrary denials for people eligible for these services.

Attacks on undocumented immigrants

Efforts to deport large numbers of undocumented immigrants likely would disproportionately hurt Hispanic communities and result in human rights abuses. These initiatives also likely would drive up the price of goods and services for everyone. The first Trump administration tried to make it easier to deport people who participated in programs like Medicaid or SNAP. We anticipate another effort to impose a similar “public charge” rule.

Harmful long-term structural changes

Further down the road, we are watching for potential harmful changes to SSI disability cash assistance. We also are concerned about potential proposals to privatize Social Security and to slash Medicaid and SNAP by turning them into block-grant programs or significantly cutting federal funding.

What we can do together

The federal road ahead will not be easy for Alabamians with low incomes. But we have survived serious policy threats before, and we can again, as long as we all work together. It is important to remember a few key strengths that we have:

  • Congress is deeply divided, especially in the House. Some things that require congressional action may be hard to pass.
  • Federal administrative rule changes are a slow and tedious process. Public comments can play a major role in slowing or stopping harmful regulations.
  • Equitable tax policy and adequate budgets for human services are broadly popular. Public opinion matters and can make a real difference.

Arise pledges to help our members stay informed with fact sheets, blog posts and other informative materials. We will share timely action alerts to help our supporters speak out to elected officials on issues that matter to working families. And we will support immigrants, people of color, low-income communities and other Alabamians who are at risk of policy harm.

We are stronger together. Arise’s coalition has a decades-long track record of credibility and success. And with your ongoing advocacy and support, we will continue advancing our shared vision of a better Alabama for all.

Alabama voted. Now let’s organize for a better state

By Robyn Hyden

The State Capitol in Montgomery.

Alabama Arise and our members have worked for more than 35 years to push for state policies that improve the lives of people struggling to make ends meet. We advocate for policies to build an Alabama where everyone has the resources they need to reach their full potential. And we’ve always remained steadfast in this mission and our values, regardless of who holds public offices at any given time.

On Tuesday, Alabama voted. So today, we have a clearer vision of what we may face as we look toward the 2025 legislative session in February. The path to dignity, equity and justice for all has always been a long one in Alabama. None of us are strangers to this work, and we’re in it for the long haul.

To make positive change, we must work together. We all must lean into our relationships, communities and networks to find solidarity and grow our collective voice for change. As a member-based organization, we know power is built from the ground up. And Arise will continue our commitment to growing our people power to expand health care access, reduce hunger, reform Alabama’s upside-down tax structure and support working people across our state.

We’re glad you’re with us. Join or support our movement for a better Alabama for all today.

Alabama Arise 2025 legislative priorities

By Alabama Arise

More than 150 Alabama Arise member groups and more than 1,500 individual members choose our legislative priorities each year. This process ensures that Alabamians most impacted by poverty have a seat at the table. Below are the priorities that our members selected for 2025.

For a PDF version of this document, click here or click the “Download” button above.

Image of a flyer listing Alabama Arise's 2025 legislative priorities: Our policy roadmap to a better, more equitable Alabama. The priorities are tax reform, adequate state budgets, voting rights, criminal justice reform, maternal and infant health care, public transportation and death penalty reform.

Tax reform – A more equitable tax system can help struggling people make ends meet. Alabama should untax groceries and ensure fair, sustainable funding for vital services.

Adequate state budgets – Strong public services broaden opportunity for all. Alabama must expand Medicaid and protect funding for public schools. Our state also should reduce hunger and hardship by supporting universal free breakfast in public schools.

Voting rights – Everyone deserves a say in our democracy. Alabama should pass no-excuse early voting and lift barriers to voting rights restoration for disenfranchised people.

Criminal justice reform – Our justice system must ensure fairness and justice for all. Alabama should improve its parole system, reform punitive sentencing laws and reduce reliance on fines and fees as a revenue source.

Maternal and infant health – The health and safety of families is paramount. Alabama should improve access to high-quality health care, ensure life-saving pregnancy care is not criminalized and extend paid parental leave for state employees and teachers.

Public transportation – Community connection is vital. Alabama should fund the Public Transportation Trust Fund so everyone can get to work, school, medical care and more.

Death penalty reform – All Alabamians deserve equal justice under the law. A key step in this direction would be to apply Alabama’s ban on judicial overrides of jury sentencing verdicts retroactively to people sentenced under this now-illegal policy.

Alabama Arise unveils 2025 roadmap for change in Alabama

By Chris Sanders

Expanding Medicaid and ending the state sales tax on groceries will remain top goals on Alabama Arise’s 2025 legislative agenda. The organization also will advocate for state funds to help public schools provide free breakfast to every student.

More than 450 members voted in the last week to affirm Arise’s legislative priorities. The seven priorities chosen were:

  • Adequate budgets for human services, including expanding Medicaid to make health coverage affordable for all Alabamians, supporting universal free breakfast in public schools and ensuring equitable public education funding for all students.
  • Tax reform to build a more just and sustainable revenue system, including eliminating the rest of Alabama’s state sales tax on groceries and replacing the revenue equitably.
  • Voting rights, including no-excuse early voting, removal of barriers to voting rights restoration for disenfranchised Alabamians, and other policies to protect and expand multiracial democracy.
  • Criminal justice reform, including legislation to improve Alabama’s parole system and efforts to reduce overreliance on exorbitant fines and fees as a revenue source.
  • Maternal and infant health investments to advance the health and safety of Alabama families, including legislation to ensure paid parental leave for state employees and teachers.
  • Public transportation to empower Alabamians with low incomes to stay connected to work, school, health care and their communities.
  • Death penalty reform, including a law to apply Alabama’s ban on judicial overrides of jury sentencing verdicts retroactively to people sentenced to death row under this now-illegal policy.

“Alabama Arise believes in dignity, equity and justice for everyone,” Alabama Arise executive director Robyn Hyden said. “Our 2025 legislative priorities would empower Alabamians of every race, income and background to reach their full potential. And they reflect our members’ commitment to building a healthier, more just and more inclusive Alabama for all.”

Graphic listing Alabama Arise's 2025 legislative priorities: Arise's roadmap to a better Alabama. The priorities are untaxing groceries, Medicaid expansion, voting rights, criminal justice reform, maternal and infant health, public transportation and death penalty reform.

Alabama urgently needs to close the health coverage gap

An essential step toward a healthier future for Alabama is to ensure everyone can afford the health care they need. Arise members believe Medicaid expansion is a policy path to that destination, and research provides strong support for that position.

Expanding Medicaid to cover adults with low incomes would reduce racial health disparities and remove financial barriers to health care for nearly 200,000 Alabamians. It would support thousands of new jobs across the state. And most importantly, it would save hundreds of lives every year.

The need to close Alabama’s coverage gap is growing by the day. Thomasville Regional Medical Center in Clarke County last month became the state’s most recent rural hospital to close. About two dozen other rural hospitals in Alabama are at immediate risk of closure, and four labor and delivery units have shut down in the last year. These closures have reduced care options in a state that already has one of the nation’s worst maternal mortality rates.

Alabama is one of only 10 states yet to expand Medicaid. Medicaid expansion would ensure health coverage for nearly 200,000 Alabamians caught in a coverage gap. Most of these residents earn too much to qualify for the state’s bare-bones Medicaid program but too little to afford private plans.

“Medicaid expansion would boost our economy, protect rural hospitals and improve life for people across Alabama,” Hyden said. “Closing the coverage gap also would improve access to mental health treatment and life-saving health care for mothers and babies. Our policymakers need to step up and to make this life-saving and job-creating investment in the people of our state.”

Universal school breakfast would help Alabama children learn and thrive

Another key step toward a healthier Alabama is to ensure every public school can offer free breakfast to every student. Hundreds of Alabama schools are providing free meals to all of their students through the Community Eligibility Provision, but some schools cannot participate in the program.

Arise will advocate for a state appropriation that local districts can use to match federal funds to offer free breakfasts. This funding would position Alabama to build on the success of Summer EBT, which will provide $40 in food benefits per summer month for more than 500,000 children starting in 2025. Legislators approved the necessary administrative funding for Summer EBT this year after determined advocacy by Arise members and partners.

Children and communities across Alabama would enjoy both immediate and long-term benefits from universal free breakfast in public schools. Universal school breakfast would reduce child hunger in a state where nearly 1 in 4 children face food insecurity. Extending the reach of school breakfast programs would help reduce behavioral problems and improve attendance and test scores. Reducing food insecurity for children also can help improve their mental health and overall health as teenagers and adults.

“It’s hard for children to focus in school when they’re hungry,” Hyden said. “Lawmakers can help ensure that every student across Alabama can start the day with a good meal and be ready to succeed both in the classroom and throughout their lives.”

Finish the job: Alabama needs to remove the rest of the state grocery tax

Arise members also renewed their decades-long commitment to another policy to reduce hunger: ending Alabama’s state grocery tax. That advocacy got results last year when legislators reduced the state sales tax on groceries by half. The law reduced the tax from 4 cents to 3 cents in 2023, but another 1-cent reduction did not happen this year because education revenues grew by less than 3.5%. That reduction will occur in the next year when revenues increase by that amount.

Ending the state grocery tax remains a core Arise priority because the tax makes it harder for people with low incomes to make ends meet. The tax adds hundreds of dollars a year to the cost of a basic necessity for families. And most states have abandoned it: Alabama is one of only 12 states that still tax groceries.

Lawmakers have options to remove the other half of the state grocery tax while protecting funding for public schools. Arise will continue to support legislation to untax groceries and replace the revenue by capping or eliminating the state income tax deduction for federal income taxes. This deduction is a tax break that overwhelmingly benefits the richest households. Arise also will support efforts to give local governments increased flexibility to decrease local grocery taxes if they determine it is feasible.

“Reducing the state grocery tax was an important step toward repairing Alabama’s upside-down tax system,” Hyden said. “By untaxing groceries and limiting the federal income tax deduction, legislators can help families keep food on the table while protecting funding for our children’s public schools. Alabama lawmakers should embrace this path to end the state grocery tax forever.”

How Alabama can build an economy that works for workers

By Dev Wakeley

Multi-colored logo of the state of Alabama with the text The State of Working Alabama

 

Labor Day is a holiday where we can reflect on the contributions that working people – and the unions that workers form to build power together – have made to the well-being of all people in the United States. These contributions include overtime pay, a five-day workweek, child labor protections and workplace safety standards.

These advances for working people didn’t come easily. Workers won them through strikes, pressure and solidarity. These advances came in the face of overwhelming opposition by bad employers that would have rather seen their workers die than to win workplace democracy.

And the fight continues. Many steps that the working people of Alabama have won toward better lives for their families are under attack today. In Alabama, workers fought this year against anti-union legislation and a measure to reduce existing child labor protections. And while passing these harmful bills and others, state officials have continued to give billions of dollars in tax incentives and subsidies to private companies. These giveaways persist even when those companies benefit from egregious child labor law violations.

These attacks on workers are continuations of longstanding economic strategies of worker abuse in the South. But at the same time officials choose to make life tougher for working people, officials are asking why people aren’t in the workforce.

The answer is straightforward: The Alabama economy doesn’t work for workers. And that’s by design. But we can move toward a better economy with better policy choices.

Job quality in Alabama is low

Alabamians labor in a state where numerous employment practices and policies prevent them from building a stable life and improving their overall well-being. More than 1 in 5 Alabama workers (22%) are paid less than $15 per hour. That is a poverty wage for a family of four and less than half of what that family needs to thrive. Alabama’s workers also make less, even after adjusting for the state’s lower cost of living, than workers in Rust Belt states like Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Two people working under the hood of a car with text on the top that reads How Alabama can build an economy that works for workers.The shortcomings of Alabama’s low-road economic development model reach far beyond employers’ failure to pay adequate wages. Southern workers broadly have less access to paid leave than other workers. Alabamians have no paid parental leave protections under state law, though momentum is building to fix that problem for some workers. Alabama workers also lack guaranteed paid sick leave, caregiving leave, domestic violence leave or bereavement leave. And the state has prevented local governments from giving workers a square deal by preempting any local legislation to improve conditions for workers, in an extension of policy barriers that limit Black Alabamians’ self-determination and participation in society.

State policymakers prop up employers’ anti-worker strategies by opposing workers’ efforts to build a better economy for themselves. The recent upswell of unionization in Alabama has met with vicious opposition from some officials, including a picketing ban, use of state troopers to support scabs against miners, and a slick, businesslike campaign of officials orchestrated to oppose workers organizing with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in Tuscaloosa County.

Officials also have attacked employers who freely and voluntarily recognize workers’ decision to unionize by forbidding those companies to receive economic development incentives. Hostility to workers, coupled with persistent underinvestment in work supports, has left Alabama’s workers significantly behind across the board.

Remove barriers by investing in child care, health care, public transportation

We know workers face specific barriers to workforce participation. The workers themselves and the businesses employing them have said so. These barriers include child care, transportation, housing and medical coverage.

But as our state’s economy has grown less than it would with broader opportunity, officials have made shortsighted anti-worker policy decisions that make life worse for working people and those who depend on them. Even the steps forward have been tentative, lacking in focus directly on the people who do the work to keep Alabama going.

Instead of just providing tax incentives to companies for child care and stopping there, workforce development should include direct investment in child care for workers. Our state’s hardheaded, hard-hearted refusal to expand Medicaid has cost lives and worsens our rural hospital crisis. Alabama remains one of just 10 states yet to close the health coverage gap.

Alabama also has yet to fund the Public Transportation Trust Fund that the Legislature created in 2018. Significant investment in public transportation would help all workers – particularly people working in manufacturing and caregiving, two areas of need where investment would provide rippling benefits for all Alabamians.

These persistent state policy failures bolster an overall economic structure that comes up short on providing jobs where people can thrive or even just get by. By not investing in essential work supports, lawmakers are limiting our state’s human potential and economic future.

Job quality for Alabamians is lower than in many other states. Many Alabamians make less than other states’ residents do for the same work, and that’s the wrong way to build an economy. 

A high road to a brighter future

Alabama’s economic development strategy of removing every guardrail for worker well-being while treating the people who do the work like they are disposable doesn’t make sense. It never has. The top-down model is why our state’s outcomes fall measurably short in important areas such as earnings, health care and educational attainment.

On this Labor Day, state decision-makers should move beyond the low-road strategies that have Alabama spinning its wheels on improving quality of life for the people who keep the state running. By investing in a high-road economic structure that uplifts workers, we can build an Alabama we’re all proud to call home.

What are the benefits of a universal school breakfast program in Alabama?

By LaTrell Clifford Wood

Alabama should do more to equip schoolchildren and teachers for success. Our state consistently ranks among the bottom five states for educational outcomes. And one essential school supply missing from several Alabama schools would immensely improve said outcomes: universal school breakfast. Below are a few of the positive effects that universal school breakfast would have for children across Alabama.

Reduce child hunger across our state. In Alabama, 23% of school-age children are food insecure, with a disparate impact among children of color. Universal school breakfast could guarantee a morning meal for all Alabama children during their required school day.

Address chronic absenteeism. In recent years, nearly 1 in 5 Alabama children have been chronically absent, with 53% of Alabama schools experiencing some form of high to chronic absenteeism. Decades of research has shown that students who participate in school breakfast see improved attendance and decreased tardiness, according to the Food Research and Action Center. 

Improve adolescent mental health. Young adults who reported experiencing food insecurity during childhood also reported greater psychological distress in adulthood, according to National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data.

Improve standardized testing and math scores. Alabama ranks 46th in average math ACT scores. Student academic achievement increases, especially for math, when accessible breakfasts are made available to school-age children.

Reduce the long-term cost of closing the health coverage gap. Given the chronic health conditions associated with hunger, like diabetes and heart disease to name a few, a state subsidy for universal school breakfast is a form of preventative care that could have a long-term impact on the projected cost of closing the coverage gap in Alabama.

Alleviate behavioral problems. The behavioral effects of hunger include impulsivity, hyperactivity, irritability, aggression, anxiety and a greater propensity to using rewarding narcotics, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health. Reducing hunger would reduce these behaviors.

Aid Alabama’s teachers in regulating their classrooms. Attrition rates among teachers have surged nationwide and statewide in recent years. Teachers spend roughly $300 per year of their own money to feed hungry students in their classrooms.

Address educator attrition rates. Nearly 40% of teachers who left the profession said they had better material support in their current roles when compared to teaching, according to a survey conducted by the Institute of Education Sciences. Universal school breakfast is a simple but powerful way to provide material support for Alabama’s teachers and students.

For questions regarding the implementation, impact and general importance of universal school breakfast, please contact Alabama Arise’s LaTrell Clifford Wood at latrell@alarise.org or Carol Gundlach at carol@alarise.org.

Universal school breakfast helps Alabama children learn and thrive

By Carol Gundlach

School breakfast helps kids learn: Children who start the day with breakfast learn better. They have better classroom participation and are less likely to skip school than kids who don’t get breakfast. But tight family budgets and stressful mornings mean many children arrive at school hungry. School breakfast can help fill this gap.

School, bus and family schedules make it difficult to serve breakfast before the school day begins: School breakfast participation declined nearly 8% nationally after pandemic-era free breakfast ended. Only half of the children who get lunch at school also get breakfast.

The solution – universal free breakfast: School districts across the country have found that breakfast served after the first bell increases participation and helps kids learn.

Paperwork is a barrier for hungry children: Federal funding for traditional school breakfast relies on school’s assessing students’ eligibility for meal subsidies and reporting on how many free, reduced and paid meals are served. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) can reduce the paperwork for schools that serve a high share of children with low incomes. But many schools either can’t make CEP work financially or worry about its impact on other federal grants.

What the Legislature can do: The Legislature can help feed Alabama’s schoolchildren by appropriating Education Trust Fund (ETF) money to match federal reduced and paid breakfast funds. Schools that want to offer free breakfast can use these matching funds to provide breakfast for all of their students at the start of the school day.

How this would work: The Legislature would appropriate money to match federal school breakfast grants. The Alabama State Department of Education would allow local schools to apply and would distribute these matching dollars. Schools that receive funding would report to, and be monitored by, the Department of Education.

The decision to offer free breakfast is optional: Whether to apply for matching funds would be totally voluntary for schools or systems. Those that want to participate can apply for the matching funds. Those that don’t think it will work for them can choose not to apply.

How this would interact with CEP: The Community Eligibility Provision allows eligible schools to provide free meals for all their students. But some Alabama schools that are technically eligible for CEP can’t make the federal reimbursement rate work for them. And other Alabama schools would like to offer free breakfast but don’t want to adopt CEP fully. This proposal would allow schools to be made whole if they do adopt CEP or would allow schools to offer universal breakfast without having to adopt CEP fully.

Bottom line

An ETF appropriation of approximately $14 million in 2023 dollars would allow every school in Alabama to offer breakfast to all of their students.

 

Summer EBT for 2025

By LaTrell Clifford Wood

A state appropriation for Summer EBT will ensure $40 in food benefits per summer month for more than 500,000 eligible Alabama children ages 5-17.

 

An Alabama Arise flyer explaining the need for and benefits of Summer EBT starting in 2025.

1 in 4 Alabama children are food insecure.

Too many of our children don’t know where their next meal will come from. Because of systemic barriers to food access, a disproportionate amount of food-insecure children come from communities of color. The Summer EBT program has been shown to help alleviate this problem by both reducing hunger and supporting healthier diets among children.

500,000+ Alabama children will benefit starting in 2025.

In recent years, 94% of Alabama’s children who relied on free and reduced-price meals during the school year have not had access to these meals over the summer. The Summer EBT appropriation in the 2025 Education Trust Fund budget will help reduce hunger for hundreds of thousands of Alabama children in summer 2025.

Summer EBT could spur $100M each year in economic activity.

This federal nutrition program required a $10 million state match for administrative and setup costs. This funding will generate substantial economic benefits, both for families and for local retailers that accept EBT benefits. Also worth noting: The costs of operating this program likely will decrease in future years.

Preparing for Summer 2025

  • Summer EBT cards will be addressed to and in the eligible child’s name.
  • Children will be automatically eligible to receive Summer EBT benefits if at least one of these is true:
    • The child’s household receives assistance under Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and/or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR).
    • The child is in foster care or experiencing homelessness.
  • Applications will be required for all other eligible children.