A bipartisan pitch for free lunches in Iowa

As we wait to see which hyperpartisan bill clear a legislative funnel deadline this week, it’s remarkable that bipartisanship isn’t completely dead under the Golden Dome of Wisdom.

It pops up occasionally, like a spring flower sprouting through the muck of March. Sure, it may get run over by the Republican bulldozer. But let’s mark its fleeting appearance.

State Rep. Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids has filed a bill to expand the number of kids in Iowa who get free school lunch and breakfast. Under current law, kids from families with incomes up to 130 percent of poverty, roughly $35,000 annually for a family of four, receive free school meals. And families with an income up to 185 percent, about $65,000, receive reduced price meals.

Under Scheetz’s bill, all kids in families earning incomes up to 185 percent of poverty would get free meals. The change would affect public school students and kids attending private or charter schools that participate in federal lunch and breakfast programs. It would cost just less than $1.1 million to extend free meals to 23,000 families.

Democrats have long supported expanding the availability of free school meals, so Scheetz’s bill isn’t a surprising development. What is remarkable is the bill has 20 Republican co-sponsors.

“I found a lot of the members to be cooperative and willing to sign on,” Scheetz told me this week. “I’m willing to work with anyone in the chamber to make working people’s lives better.

“I was very happily surprised,” said Scheetz, who is serving his first term in the House.

The significance of 20 GOP backers is simple math. Add those supporters to 36 House Democrats who are likely to vote for the bill, and you have 56 votes. That’s easily enough for passage.

But, unfortunately, this is where the political maneuvering comes in. It’s unlikely House Republican leadership will bring a bill to the floor that doesn’t have the support of a majority of Republicans. Sure, it has 20 Republican backers, but the other 44 House Republicans could find themselves voting against feeding kids. Leaders don’t let that sort of thing happen.

But who is against feeding more kids? Scheetz said among the objections he heard from the Republicans are that lunches should be parents’ responsibility and that the bill would “lead to the unchecked growth of state government. This from the same folks who passed legislation spending nearly a billion dollars in public funds over the next four years to create Education Savings Accounts for families sending their kids to private schools.

But $1.1 million to make sure kids are well fed, which a big factor in their academic performance, would grow government too much. We’ve heard a lot about how we must protect kids from fabricated threats in public schools. Hunger is real.

“I think this is a no-brainer for $1.1 million,” Scheetz said.

In fact, every kid should get free meals at school. State Sen. Janice Weiner, a Democrat from Iowa City, has filed a bill in the Senate to do just that. But it’s unlikely to receive consideration. The fate of Scheetz’s bill is on limbo. No action has been taken, despite its bipartisan support. It may die in this week’s funnel deadline, or be resurrected as an appropriations bill.

Surely the same legislators who are paid for daily expenses, including meals, during the legislative session and are invited to special interest receptions with free eats could support feeding kids. It’s a no-brainer, but you do need to have a heart.

(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com

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