Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signs law guaranteeing free breakfast and lunch for all students

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/MorePerfectUS/status/1636824655582597120

Just look at the contrast...

[T'Chenka]

Excellent. Very left wing by American standards. Reminds me of Fred Hampton.

[jojoju1998]

Excellent. Very left wing by American standards. Reminds me of Fred Hampton.

And Tim Walz ran both times as a virtual moderate.

He's like Mark Kelly in a lot of ways. Moderate Messaging.

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

Contrast this with Sarah Huckabee Sanders in Arkansas who just got done signing a law to make it easier for companies to exploit child labor by rolling back requirements that the state verify the ages of workers under 16 and provide them with work certificates permitting them to work.

Honestly, how anyone who has the best interests of children at heart could vote GOP is beyond my comprehension.

Any way, I believe Walz is a retired teacher as well if I'm not mistaken. He probably saw the effects of kids going hungry first hand and what making sure they're well fed can do for their education.

Kudos Governor, a job well done.

EDIT; I just saw Ferguson made the same comparison in the OP, hadn't even seen that pic before! Absolutely marvelous in a hilarious way if it weren't the well-being of real children at stake.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

What states have this now? I know CA does, but do other states have it as well?

[TheReckoning]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals.

[Epaminondas]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

[TheReckoning]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

Why? Let people who have the means spend money on how they want. People with the means should be able to buy other food instead of whatever garbage they’re fed in public schools.

[Epaminondas]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

Why? Let people who have the means spend money on how they want. People with the means should be able to buy other food instead of whatever garbage they’re fed in public schools.

The delusion that being rich means you are omniscient, rather than just good in one field and equally as ignorant as everywhere else (including nutrition), is poisoning the US and the world.

No other country in the world would see such pushback toward Walz's humanitarian idea.

[TheReckoning]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

Why? Let people who have the means spend money on how they want. People with the means should be able to buy other food instead of whatever garbage they’re fed in public schools.

The delusion that being rich means you are omniscient, rather than just good in one field and equally as ignorant as everywhere else (including nutrition), is poisoning the US and the world.

No other country in the world would see such pushback toward Walz's humanitarian idea.

So you want the state to regulate the meals of every person, because apparently some people are ignorant in nutrition? That’s a very authoritarian idea.

[world.execute(me)]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

Why? Let people who have the means spend money on how they want. People with the means should be able to buy other food instead of whatever garbage they’re fed in public schools.

The delusion that being rich means you are omniscient, rather than just good in one field and equally as ignorant as everywhere else (including nutrition), is poisoning the US and the world.

No other country in the world would see such pushback toward Walz's humanitarian idea.

So you want the state to regulate the meals of every person, because apparently some people are ignorant in nutrition? That’s a very authoritarian idea.

Giving kids the option of free school lunch is not "regulating the meals of every person". It's still legal to bring food from home.

[world.execute(me)]

Universal programs like this are good because they're a lot harder to take away politically than benefits that only go to poor people who face lots of stigma and have little power.

[TheReckoning]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

Why? Let people who have the means spend money on how they want. People with the means should be able to buy other food instead of whatever garbage they’re fed in public schools.

The delusion that being rich means you are omniscient, rather than just good in one field and equally as ignorant as everywhere else (including nutrition), is poisoning the US and the world.

No other country in the world would see such pushback toward Walz's humanitarian idea.

So you want the state to regulate the meals of every person, because apparently some people are ignorant in nutrition? That’s a very authoritarian idea.

Giving kids the option of free school lunch is not "regulating the meals of every person". It's still legal to bring food from home.

But when you take away money from people, you are limiting their options elsewhere. I’m all for raising taxes on the wealthy- but not coupled with handouts for them as well.

[world.execute(me)]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

Why? Let people who have the means spend money on how they want. People with the means should be able to buy other food instead of whatever garbage they’re fed in public schools.

The delusion that being rich means you are omniscient, rather than just good in one field and equally as ignorant as everywhere else (including nutrition), is poisoning the US and the world.

No other country in the world would see such pushback toward Walz's humanitarian idea.

So you want the state to regulate the meals of every person, because apparently some people are ignorant in nutrition? That’s a very authoritarian idea.

Giving kids the option of free school lunch is not "regulating the meals of every person". It's still legal to bring food from home.

But when you take away money from people, you are limiting their options elsewhere. I’m all for raising taxes on the wealthy- but not coupled with handouts for them as well.

"Taking away money is limiting peoples freedom" and "We should take more from rich people and not give them 'handouts'" a sentence apart. Amazing. The second argument makes the first one irrelevant, so why include it?

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals.

I'm not in favor of means testing in general; but children are probably the one group I'm especially not concerned about means testing. How would that even work, do the kids need to bring their parents tax receipts /w them before being given breakfast/lunch?

Children deserve to eat, period. It really should be that simple and afaik in most first-world countries, it is... The nutritional value of school meals in the US is an entirely separate (and important) discussion but not going hungry while trying to learn is the most important thing.

[GoTfan]

Walz is a public schoolteacher by trade, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise he's been pursuing this to now.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

"Rich people shouldn't get handouts"

The blue avs are short circuiting.

[T'Chenka]

But when you take away money from people, you are limiting their options elsewhere. I’m all for raising taxes on the wealthy- but not coupled with handouts for them as well.

Oh no, the poor rich lady could only afford to put $19,990 into her vacation fund instead of $20,000. The horror...

[Lechasseur]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals.

I'm not in favor of means testing in general; but children are probably the one group I'm especially not concerned about means testing. How would that even work, do the kids need to bring their parents tax receipts /w them before being given breakfast/lunch?

Children deserve to eat, period. It really should be that simple and afaik in most first-world countries, it is... The nutritional value of school meals in the US is an entirely separate (and important) discussion but not going hungry while trying to learn is the most important thing.

Eh, I'm not opposed to this by any means, but free school meals are not the norm in other 1st-world countries either.

I lived in 2 European countries (France and Belgium), and you definitely had to pay for lunch. This isn't an issue like healthcare where the US is clearly outside the norms of the developed world.

And on that note, I've never heard of school breakfast, let alone free school breakfast. Schools definitely do not serve breakfast here (unless they're boarding schools ofc).

[No War, but the War on Christmas]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals.

I'm not in favor of means testing in general; but children are probably the one group I'm especially not concerned about means testing. How would that even work, do the kids need to bring their parents tax receipts /w them before being given breakfast/lunch?

Children deserve to eat, period. It really should be that simple and afaik in most first-world countries, it is... The nutritional value of school meals in the US is an entirely separate (and important) discussion but not going hungry while trying to learn is the most important thing.

Eh, I'm not opposed to this by any means, but free school meals are not the norm in other 1st-world countries either.

I lived in 2 European countries (France and Belgium), and you definitely had to pay for lunch. This isn't an issue like healthcare where the US is clearly outside the norms of the developed world.

And on that note, I've never heard of school breakfast, let alone free school breakfast. Schools definitely do not serve breakfast here (unless they're boarding schools ofc).

Huh, I did some research and you're right, and it's a weird assortment too... Countries like Finland and Sweden have had free school lunches for over half a century whereas Norway doesn't have any program. In France it said that the school pays for half and the students/family pay the other half for school lunches.

When do schools typically start in those countries? In the US I had to be on the bus by 6:30-7 and I know there's been a lot of talk about how early US schools start and how we'd be much better served by starting school later in the day. Obviously there isn't much time to eat a decent breakfast if you're leaving for school when it's still dark outside.

In any case, doesn't change how I feel about this issue obviously and we should absolutely make this a national initiative when possible.

[SWE]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

Why? Let people who have the means spend money on how they want. People with the means should be able to buy other food instead of whatever garbage they’re fed in public schools.

How did you make the leap in logic from something being free to something being mandatory? If a kid brings their own lunch from home I don't think any school is going to stop them

[Lechasseur]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals.

I'm not in favor of means testing in general; but children are probably the one group I'm especially not concerned about means testing. How would that even work, do the kids need to bring their parents tax receipts /w them before being given breakfast/lunch?

Children deserve to eat, period. It really should be that simple and afaik in most first-world countries, it is... The nutritional value of school meals in the US is an entirely separate (and important) discussion but not going hungry while trying to learn is the most important thing.

Eh, I'm not opposed to this by any means, but free school meals are not the norm in other 1st-world countries either.

I lived in 2 European countries (France and Belgium), and you definitely had to pay for lunch. This isn't an issue like healthcare where the US is clearly outside the norms of the developed world.

And on that note, I've never heard of school breakfast, let alone free school breakfast. Schools definitely do not serve breakfast here (unless they're boarding schools ofc).

Huh, I did some research and you're right, and it's a weird assortment too... Countries like Finland and Sweden have had free school lunches for over half a century whereas Norway doesn't have any program. In France it said that the school pays for half and the students/family pay the other half for school lunches.

When do schools typically start in those countries? In the US I had to be on the bus by 6:30-7 and I know there's been a lot of talk about how early US schools start and how we'd be much better served by starting school later in the day. Obviously there isn't much time to eat a decent breakfast if you're leaving for school when it's still dark outside.

In any case, doesn't change how I feel about this issue obviously and we should absolutely make this a national initiative when possible.

In Elementary school back in my day would start around 8:30-8:45 AM; and in High school the day would start at 8:00 AM sharp.

But school would finish late. In elementary school I would finish at 4:45 everyday and I really struggled to do my homework as a result (overall I did well in school as I have a good memory and didn't need to study much, but doing my exercices and stuff I found hard). Tbf I only had a 4 day week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) but at the time I would have definitely rather had school on Wednesday and finish earlier in the day, and I still think a 4 day week with such long hours is counterproductive.

Highschool really depended on which "stream" you were in (basically which major but highschool version, until the 2020 Reform there were 3: Scientific centered around Math, Physics and Biology; Economic Centered on Economics, Math and History; and Literary centered on French, Philosophy and foreign languages).

I was in the economic stream (basically middle of the road in terms of prestige, above Literary but below Scientific), so for most of highschool I had 8-5 days, but then in my senior year due to how my schedule played out I had 8-4 days. Which by that age is fine, especially given my natural ability at my classes other than math meant I didn't have to do much once I got home.

But the Scientific stream (the most prestigeous and difficult one) had 8-6 days and then had to do a bunch of work when they got home, that was a bit much. My brother (who was in this stream) was burnt out by the time he was done with highschool.

[jojoju1998]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals and their parents should be taxed more heavily to fund this.

FTFY

Why? Let people who have the means spend money on how they want. People with the means should be able to buy other food instead of whatever garbage they’re fed in public schools.

How did you make the leap in logic from something being free to something being mandatory? If a kid brings their own lunch from home I don't think any school is going to stop them

Government is evil. That’s why.

[jojoju1998]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals.

I'm not in favor of means testing in general; but children are probably the one group I'm especially not concerned about means testing. How would that even work, do the kids need to bring their parents tax receipts /w them before being given breakfast/lunch?

Children deserve to eat, period. It really should be that simple and afaik in most first-world countries, it is... The nutritional value of school meals in the US is an entirely separate (and important) discussion but not going hungry while trying to learn is the most important thing.

Eh, I'm not opposed to this by any means, but free school meals are not the norm in other 1st-world countries either.

I lived in 2 European countries (France and Belgium), and you definitely had to pay for lunch. This isn't an issue like healthcare where the US is clearly outside the norms of the developed world.

And on that note, I've never heard of school breakfast, let alone free school breakfast. Schools definitely do not serve breakfast here (unless they're boarding schools ofc).

Huh, I did some research and you're right, and it's a weird assortment too... Countries like Finland and Sweden have had free school lunches for over half a century whereas Norway doesn't have any program. In France it said that the school pays for half and the students/family pay the other half for school lunches.

When do schools typically start in those countries? In the US I had to be on the bus by 6:30-7 and I know there's been a lot of talk about how early US schools start and how we'd be much better served by starting school later in the day. Obviously there isn't much time to eat a decent breakfast if you're leaving for school when it's still dark outside.

In any case, doesn't change how I feel about this issue obviously and we should absolutely make this a national initiative when possible.

All California Schools starts around 8am now. New Law.

[ingemann]

Dumb. Students of rich parents should not be given free meals.

I'm not in favor of means testing in general; but children are probably the one group I'm especially not concerned about means testing. How would that even work, do the kids need to bring their parents tax receipts /w them before being given breakfast/lunch?

Children deserve to eat, period. It really should be that simple and afaik in most first-world countries, it is... The nutritional value of school meals in the US is an entirely separate (and important) discussion but not going hungry while trying to learn is the most important thing.

Eh, I'm not opposed to this by any means, but free school meals are not the norm in other 1st-world countries either.

I lived in 2 European countries (France and Belgium), and you definitely had to pay for lunch. This isn't an issue like healthcare where the US is clearly outside the norms of the developed world.

And on that note, I've never heard of school breakfast, let alone free school breakfast. Schools definitely do not serve breakfast here (unless they're boarding schools ofc).

Huh, I did some research and you're right, and it's a weird assortment too... Countries like Finland and Sweden have had free school lunches for over half a century whereas Norway doesn't have any program. In France it said that the school pays for half and the students/family pay the other half for school lunches.

When do schools typically start in those countries? In the US I had to be on the bus by 6:30-7 and I know there's been a lot of talk about how early US schools start and how we'd be much better served by starting school later in the day. Obviously there isn't much time to eat a decent breakfast if you're leaving for school when it's still dark outside.

In any case, doesn't change how I feel about this issue obviously and we should absolutely make this a national initiative when possible.

In Denmark it was mostly expected you take your own lunch, through ordering food through the school have become possible (usually produce by an external private company, instead of at the school, and costing between 2-6$) the last few years. but a rye bread sandwich with pig liver pate, some cucumber (sometimes on the pate) and/or carrot pierce and milk are still seen as the archetypical school lunch. School breakfast is not a thing in most schools.



Free school lunches make more sense in a society like USA than in most European countries. It's usually something you offer in countries with a lot of children in poverty. But when you do offer free lunches, it also makes sense to extend it to all students rich and poor, both to keep political support for the policy but also for economy of scale.