Maine reintroduces lunch shaming bill

A representative in Maine has reintroduced a lunch shaming bill that would require schools to provide a hot meal to students even if they have a negative lunch balance, Central Maine reports.

The bill would also prevent schools from stigmatizing students by publicly identifying that they can’t pay and would instead require school officials to notify parents or guardians that they have unpaid balances.

The Maine School Nutrition Association opposes the bill, saying that while it endorses the idea behind it, it is concerned that it would cause lunch debt to climb throughout the state.

Districts in other states that have recently passed similar bills have had trouble recouping meal debt.

A similar bill introduced in Maine last year passed the committee and the full House but didn’t receive a final vote.

Read the full story via centralmaine.com.