More children than ever getting free lunches in Ohio

The number of children receiving free or reduced-price lunches jumped between 10 and 15 percent for every school district in Athens County over the past decade.

New data from the Ohio Department of Education show that more than 840,000 Ohio students are getting subsidized meals at school this year, a record high first reported in the Columbus Dispatch. That figure represents nearly half of Ohio's school population.

The report shows that the percentage of children receiving aid went from just under 29 percent 10 years ago to about 45 percent this year.

The data for Athens County school districts closely mirror the statewide percentage increases. However, overall poverty levels in this area are markedly higher, with three local school districts having more than 60 percent of their students using the program.

The Athens City School District went from 26.6 percent of students using the federal free and reduced lunch program to 40.2 percent. Federal Hocking Local School District went from 49.6 percent to 64.2 percent. Nelsonville-York School District from 45 percent to 60.1 percent, and the Trimble Local School District from 60 percent to 68.1 percent. Alexander Local School District saw the largest hike, going from 26 percent of students to 49 percent using the program.

Andrea Reik, director of Athens County Children Services, said Friday that she isn't surprised by the increase in numbers.

"We've always had a high poverty rate," Reik said of Athens County. "Schools have always worked to do the free lunches. Many of them do breakfast."

In the summer, when school isn't in session, a number of local community groups do what they can to make sure children don't go hungry. The Nelsonville Community Center, for example, feeds hundreds of children with a free lunch through a grant-funded program from Hocking-Athens-Perry Community Action. This upcoming summer will mark the fourth year of the program that serves hundreds of children.

Reik stressed that these programs are important to the community, adding that her own agency helps out with its peanut butter-and-jelly project, where children are given the sandwich makings.

"(That program) over the summer provides peanut butter, jelly and bread for kids who are not in school (and as a result) are not receiving the free school lunches," she said. "We know that hunger is an issue in the community. It doesn't surprise me that there is an increase."

Being well fed is also important in the educational process, she pointed out.

"I know if you're hungry and you're not able to eat, it's really hard to concentrate in school," she said. "It really impacts learning."

Jack Frech, executive director of Athens County Job & Family Services, said Tuesday that his agency has been aware of the steady rise in children who have to depend on a free lunch. He said it somewhat parallels increases in food stamp recipients.

"I think the other thing that's happening is that as things get worse, there are a lot of families who I think before may have even been eligible but just didn't feel right accepting the help," he said. "People I think were concerned about possibly their kids being stigmatized somehow."

Things have gotten so bad, Frech said, that people may have put those concerns aside.

"They have no choice," he said. "And as more and more kids sign up for this, in some school districts, that's just the way of life when you have more kids on it than not."

Frech said that a sad fact is that this may be the best meal of the day for many children.

"It shows the additional challenges our school districts have in educating these kids, because they know that they're coming from households that are struggling," he said.

Frech also praised state Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Albany, for putting language in legislation several years ago that prohibits schools from charging school fees to children who are on the free lunch program.

"So not only do these kids get a free lunch but it also saves a few bucks for their parents in paying some mandatory school fees," he said. "Statewide that's going to save these poor families literally millions of dollars."

Frech said that these increases are yet another indicator of the growing poverty problem in this region and Ohio as a whole.

The federal lunch program uses family income to determine eligibility for free and reduced lunch. Because it's based on tangible figures, the data is considered one of the best available measures for the economic well-being of families with school-aged children.