Free lunches at school

[Sister Fracas 5]

School lunches are a means tested benefit.

Just a few pages ago, it apparently wasn't.

According to who? Not the USDA, who happens to administer the program

Just passing on the info, don't know if it's true or not......

Just thought I'd throw in the little technical curve that school lunches are not a means tested benefit, and even USCIS says so on Page 6 of the I-864.

Edited August 27, 2007 by Frances

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

well, maybe we could split hairs about what it means to be means tested:

From the USDA website:

For a child to be eligible for free or reduced price benefits, the child must have

been directly certified or the household must have submitted a complete

application and be determined either categorically eligible or income eligible. The

school food authority (SFA) or school must have a valid application on file for

each income and categorically eligible student served a meal meeting program

requirements that is claimed for Federal reimbursement at the free or reduced rate,

and a list of those students directly certified.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/Guidance/special_issue.pdf

[Ban Hammer 13,310]

I've never been on welfare, or public housing, or any means-tested benefit. But I benefited mightily from a government program: federal financial aid for college. (As do many other middle-class taxpayers.)

Did taxes pay for that? Yup. Is society better off for sending bright kids like me to college when their parents can't write the check? I may be biased, but I assume we're better off.

were those loans or grants?

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

I also benefits from federal and state financial aid in college. First two years were all grants. Last two years were mostly self-financed - about 90%, with some work-study to make up the rest. I graduated with almost no debt

[Raspect 0]

the costs involved in going after parents to pay for the lunches after the fact, and the additional bureaucracy needed to fund that would in all likelihood cost more for taxpayers than the initial cost of the free or subsidized lunch.

A school is a place for kids to learn and not a childcare center. Many people seem to forget that.

I also love how the people who pay the most tax always get the least out of government services.

WHATTT???

THOSE POOR PEOPLE WHO PAY THE MOST

NOT GETTING THE CRAPPY PEANUT BUTTER AND ALMOST JELLY SANDWICHES

THEY HAVE TO SETTLE FOR THEIR MEASLEY STEAK AND EGGS

THEY ARE DEFINITELY GETTING THE LEAST OUT OF THE GOV'T. SERVICES. NOW I SEE WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT. I AM STARTING TO FEEL BAD TOO

[Lyuba 0]

Of course free services are not free but you pay taxes anyway.

So instead of using them on a stupid war, use them for people. By the way the taxes in Russia are only 13%. That's all. Not much, eh? You pay much more here and then you pay on top of that to insurance companies.

[Caladan 19]

I've never been on welfare, or public housing, or any means-tested benefit. But I benefited mightily from a government program: federal financial aid for college. (As do many other middle-class taxpayers.)

Did taxes pay for that? Yup. Is society better off for sending bright kids like me to college when their parents can't write the check? I may be biased, but I assume we're better off.

were those loans or grants?

A combination. My first two years at school were all university-sponsored private scholarship + the standard amount in interest-subsidized Stafford loans. The last two years they bumped most of my funding to the generic 'financial aid pool' (I have no idea why, but I suspect it was because the 'name' scholarship was for freshmen and sophomores or something like that.) and moved about a quarter of my aid to named scholarships.

All in all I received a $120K education for about $10K out-of-pocket and the usual amount in loans. I graduated with some debt, but it's not soul-crushing and it's manageable.

[Raspect 0]

i rather my tax $$4 go to feed an American student than to Iraq to support a corrupt government

This is the thing I love the most about sick conservatives. Argue to take food away from lickle children, or take away their heat in the winter, or the sweater they wear, call poor people lazy and say it is just keeping them poor (WHATTTT?????????) and of course..........

BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[almaty 19]

i rather my tax $$4 go to feed an American student than to Iraq to support a corrupt government

This is the thing I love the most about sick conservatives. Argue to take food away from lickle children, or take away their heat in the winter, or the sweater they wear, call poor people lazy and say it is just keeping them poor (WHATTTT?????????) and of course..........

BOMB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[rebeccajo 14]

There was a poster here who works in a school, who told how a majority of the free lunch applicants aren't tested, how they have ipods and whatnot....my lil story was just a spawn off of a conversation that has taken several turns.

School lunches are a means tested benefit.

Robin, not according to the I864.

Generally speaking, a means tested bennie is a cash payment.

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

There was a poster here who works in a school, who told how a majority of the free lunch applicants aren't tested, how they have ipods and whatnot....my lil story was just a spawn off of a conversation that has taken several turns.

School lunches are a means tested benefit.

Robin, not according to the I864.

Generally speaking, a means tested bennie is a cash payment.

But a dictionary definition of "means testings" refers to an investigative process undertaken to determine whether or not an individual or family is eligible to receive certain types of benefits from the government. That is the case with free school lunches, food stamps and WIC which are not cash. There is oversight to determine eligibility.

[rebeccajo 14]

Well, my stance really is that the program is GOOD except for the abuse. I'm not against helping people when they need it. Resources aren't unlimited, so those who abuse the system take away from those who need it the most.

The poster may have been right as far as the WIC guidelines....but ask the questions before you call another poster a possible liar.

But the abuse you are citing is not of the free lunch program. It's of another program entirely.

There was a poster here who works in a school, who told how a majority of the free lunch applicants aren't tested, how they have ipods and whatnot....my lil story was just a spawn off of a conversation that has taken several turns.

Yes but if a parent abuses the system, should the the benefit be taken away from the child? Because this is what I'm reading some are advocating on this thread. I'm not sure you can force them to become responsible parents overnight.

Well that's not what *I'm* putting forth, but I am advocating checking all applicants first. Not like what one poster who works in the schools said - that a small percentage only gets checked.

And then if the child is still hungry, the child gets fed on the program & the money is billed to the family in some form of lien. No one should go hungry...but it is not the gov't responsibility to feed someone who would rather buy an ipod.

A lien on what? You can't get blood out of a turnip.

Bill em, I dunno. I do know that when I was 21, I fell whilst taking down my drapes and I broke my wrist and ankle. Three days off being insured via my then-husband's health insurance. This was before I was a mgr of the salons, and my only job was as a tech. Well ya can't be a tech with a broken wrist, eh?

Anyways, I digress. I did see if there was some program at the hospital that could cover some of my expenses, but was told 'nope'. They did treat me...I didn't have a check or anything to make the payment, so they billed me.

And I paid a little each mo until we got back on our feet, then I paid it off.

Something like that, perhaps.

Now I've never heard of the saying with a turnip, but 'Can't get blood from a stone' is a premise that these people's situations will never change, they will never get back on their feet, etc....

The Ipods and whatnot aren't bought with the free lunch. They might have been obtained with funds from another benefit, but there is no way on earth you can get an Ipod from USDA.

As far as billing - billing who, when and where? ANYONE who ever draws a benefit of any kind, ever? Or certain people who have the potential to recover? How do you make that determination?

I'm not saying people should not be accountable. But while we are on the subject of all these 'handouts' I'd like to say that for most of us taxpayers, handouts are not all that easy to get. When Zach was a toddler and his father was out of work for several months, I rang up the Department of Human Services to see if we could get a medical card for Zach. I wasn't wanting social coverage for me or his Dad, and I wasn't asking for food stamps. All I wanted was to be covered in case my kid ended up in the hospital. I didn't get very far with them. They quickly ruled out my request because we had not yet wiped out our saving and still owned a home.

So there ya go. In a country and state where we had paid taxes for over 20 years, I couldn't get a 'helping hand' if I wanted it until we were nearly destitute.

How are you going to determine who DESERVES to be helped? Especially when it comes to helping a child?

[Addie_Goodvibes 0]

i rather my tax $$4 go to feed an American student than to Iraq to support a corrupt government

I would rather may tax $$ to go towards educating and Feeding LEGAL resients/ Citizens not to Illegals who put 0 into the systems they feel they are so entitled to stealing from.

I also prefer to put my tax $ on putting troops at our borders and less in Iraq

[rebeccajo 14]

I am shocked.

America already has so few social benefits that taking the free lunches away seems like a crime. The majority of developed (and some not so developed) countries have state paid pensions, free medical care, free higher education, paid maternity leave, etc. and nobody there is even thinking about removing free lunches!

America has money to pay for this terrible war but none to help its own citizens.

Not everybody who is poor is lazy. Terrible things happen to good people.

I do my own nails and they look beautiful. A woman wants to feel attractive even if she is poor.

PS My mom was a single mom and she raised two kids my herself. My brother and I both have master's degrees and we turned out to be just fine. It wouldn't have happened without free medical care, free school lunches, free day care and free college. Trust me.

Amen.

[Peikko 1,575]

Well, the next time the goverment asks you to choose where and how you want your tax dollars are spent, I am sure you can tick those boxes.