SANBORN, N.Y. — Schools across the country offered students free breakfast and lunch during the height of the pandemic, but that federal funding is now gone.
Now some schools in New York state are pushing to change that.
The superintendent at the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District says the pandemic really opened the district's eyes up to the need that is out there.
"It was unbelievable. What we learned at our middle school was that prior to the pandemic, we had about twenty kids who were taking breakfast daily," said Niagara Wheatfield Central School District Superintendent Daniel Ljiljanich.
"That's it," said 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik.
"Twenty kids," said Supt. Daniel Ljiljanich.
But when schools started providing breakfast and lunch to anyone no questions asked, just under four hundred of the district's middle schoolers started getting free breakfast at school.
"Now, our middle school is now currently community eligible where it wasn't prior to the pandemic, and we still have approximately four-hundred kids who are taking breakfast every day," said Supt. Daniel Ljiljanich.
"So that just shows you how big the need is," said Dudzik.
"Absolutely. There was a huge gap between the meals we were providing and the number of kids who were interested in taking them," said Supt. Daniel Ljiljanich. "Once that stigma was gone and everybody could grab a breakfast, everybody was eating breakfast."
Ljiljanich says current state policy requires each individual school to qualify for universal free meals by meeting what's called community eligibility. It's a 40-percent threshold. So 40% of families at a school must meet that income threshold for all of the kids to receive free meals.
"Just one student not filling out a form could mean that you miss that threshold," said Supt. Daniel Ljiljanich.
One of Niagara Wheatfield's elementary schools and the high school do not offer universal free meals.
"So what would it mean for you if the Governor includes in her budget tomorrow universal free breakfast and lunch for all students in New York state public schools?" asked Dudzik.
"It would be awesome. It would take the guesswork out of making sure that students who needed meals receive them," said Supt. Ljiljanich.
So we should know more on Wednesday when the governor's budget is revealed, but if this isn't included in it, there could be bipartisan legislation to try to make it happen.