GREENVILLE, N.C. - North Carolina's imminent budget crisis has school districts across the state waiting to figure out what will have to go. We've heard a lot about the jobs that are at stake. But, what about the risk to school lunch programs?
We want to know how much these programs are used and whether they could see cutbacks.
North Carolina has the eighth largest government lunch program in the country. Almost half of all public students statewide are part of it. More than half of the students in Eastern Carolina qualify and the demand has grown.
It's lunch time and corn dogs are on the menu. Thousands of students in Eastern Carolina don't have to pay a thing for it. Geishia Smith is a working mother whose two daughters get free lunches.
"The economy is real bad right now and, frankly, free lunches and reduced lunches help out a lot," said Geshia Smith.
These days a lot more students qualify for that help. Five of the largest school districts in the region saw that number increase by two to five percentage points over the last two years. Districts with more than 60 or 70 percent of its students getting benefits are not uncommon. It can be higher than that at individual schools.
Here at South Greenville Elementary, 80 percent of the students are on a meal plan. That's up from 76-percent from the start of this school year alone. Any cuts would pass the buck onto parents who are already struggling.
"I'm concerned that our students will not be able to have what they need as far as food is concerned,” said LaVette Ford, South Greenville Elementary School Principal.
Nothing's been laid out from the state about where any cuts in education would come from. Geishia Smith doesn't want to lose any part of a program that's worth about $80 to $100 a month to her.
"If I have to really make my kids lunches, I would. I would do anything for them. So, yeah, I mean it helps, but I would get by still." Smith said.
Logically, it doesn't make much sense to cut these lunch programs. They are almost completely federally funded. The state puts up roughly $7 million a year in order to get $400 million from the federal government.
This is an all or nothing match. If North Carolina cut any of its portion, the state wouldn't get anything from Washington. That doesn't seem likely. However, the head of child nutrition for North Carolina schools says there's no way to predict what lawmakers will do next year.
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