Alaska House panel advances free school meals for reduced-price students

The Alaska House Education Committee advanced Tuesday a bill to provide free school meals to students who currently qualify for reduced-price lunch and breakfast programs. The measure targets 3,326 students statewide who earn too much for free meals but not enough to comfortably afford the full cost. The estimated annual price tag is $430,000, though actual usage would likely be around $200,000, according to committee staff. Representative Maxine Dibert, the bill's sponsor, said teachers currently pay for student meals out of their own pockets, with schools spending thousands annually to cover unpaid meal debts. Dibert recounted speaking with a family where a young student asked his teacher to help pay for school lunches because his little brother already had a $100 late fee the family could not afford. "Many schools are already paying into the thousands at the end of the year to help pay for those meals," she said. The committee substitute significantly reduced the bill's scope from its original version, which would have provided free meals to all Alaska students regardless of income level. The universal free meal approach was scaled back due to cost concerns and legislative priorities, with lawmakers choosing to focus resources on the population caught between free meal eligibility and full payment ability. Most affected students live in larger districts: Fairbanks North Star has 870 eligible students, Mat-Su has 724, Anchorage has 637, Kenai Peninsula has 557, and Juneau has 149. Representative Rebecca Himschoot set an amendment deadline for Friday at noon. The committee will take up the bill again at a later date. A fiscal note is still pending.