Search Results for: community eligibility

  With the school year underway again, Nebraskans know how important it is to make sure our children have everything they need to succeed in school, and a big part of this is ensuring that all students have the food they need to fuel their learning. Unfortunately, about one in five households in Nebraska are food insecure, meaning that they do not always have the means to get food on the table, causing many kids to show up to school hungry.

During the Nebraska State Legislative Session in 2023 we weighed in on 57 bills. Below are some of our top priority pieces of legislation and where they stand at the end of a hectic session.  We also strongly encourage you to follow us on social media and to join our AdvoKid listserv, where we send weekly or biweekly updates during session!  To contact your state senator, click here. Economic Stability  LB 15: Change provisions of the Wage and Hour ActIntroducer: Senator LipinncottStatus: General File Voices for Children’s Position: Oppose Click here to read the Voices for Children’s testimony LB 35: Change provisions relating to childcare assistanceIntroducer: Senator Wendy DeBoerStatus: Amended into LB 227, General File Voices for Children’s Position: SupportClick here to read the Voices for Children’s testimony LB 57: Adopt the Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance ActIntroducer: Senator Machaela CavanaughStatus: In CommitteeVoices for Children’s Position: SupportClick here to read the Voices for Children’s testimony  LB 84: Change provisions relating to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance ProgramIntroducer: Senator Jen Day Status: Amended into LB 227, AM 1385 establishes a 2-year sunset date. LB 227 passed 47-0-2Voices for Children’s Position: Support Click here to read Voices for Children’s testimony  LB 290: Change standard of need requirements for the aid to dependent children programIntroducer: Senator M. CavanaughStatus: Carryover bill, Referred to Health and Human Services CommitteeVoices for Children’s Position: Support Click here to read Voices for Children’s testimony LB 294: Adopt the Child Tax Credit ActIntroducer: Senator Danielle Conrad Status: In CommitteeVoices for Children’s Position: SupportClick here to read Voices for Children’s testimony  Health  LB 99: Adopt the Hunger-Free Schools ActIntroducer: Senator Machaela CavanaughStatus: In CommitteeVoices for Children’s Position: SupportClick here to read Voices for Children’s Testimony  LB 285: Adopt the School Community Eligibility Provision Maximization ActIntroducer: Senator Lynne WalzStatus: In CommitteeVoices for Children’s Position: SupportClick here to read Voices for Children’s testimony  LB 374: Adopt the Parents’ Bill of Rights and Academic Transparency ActIntroducer: Senator Murman Status: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children’s Position: OpposeClick here to read Voices for Children Testimony  LB 527: Provide reimbursements to school districts and educational service units for mental health expendituresIntroducer: Senator Fredrickson Status: Indefinitley PostponedVoices for Children’s Position: SupportClick here to read Voices for Childrens testimony  LB 574: Adopt the Let Them Grow Act and the Preborn Child Protection Act and provide for discipline under the Uniform Credentialing ActIntroducer: Senator Kathleen KauthStatus: Amended, passed, and approved by the Governor, May 22nd, 2023 Voices for Children’s Position: OpposeClick here to read Voices for Children’s Testimony  LB 575: Adopt the Sports and Spaces ActIntroducer: Senator Kathleen KauthStatus: Indefinitely PostponedVoices for Children’s Position: OpposeClick here to read Voices for Children’s Testimony LB 585: Change a duty of the state school security director and require behavioral and mental health training for certain school personnelIntroducer: Senator HughesStatus: Indefinitely PostponedVoices for Children’s Position: Support Click here to read Voices for Children’s Testimony LB 772: Create the Residential Youth Parenting Facility Grant ProgramIntroducer: Senator Hughes Status: Indefinitely PostponedVoices for Children’s Position: SupportClick here to read Voices for Children’s Position LB 855: Prohibit school districts from taking certain actions relating to outstanding debts on a school lunch or breakfast accountIntroducer: Senator ConradStatus: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children’s Position: Support  Click […]

View a PDF version of this report Nebraska children in low-income households have lost access to low or no-cost meals due to school closures amidst the COVID-19 public health emergency. At the same time, Nebraskans are facing unprecedented job and income losses that have made it even more difficult for many Nebraska parents to make ends meet. Congress authorized the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program in the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (FFCRA) to address the loss of access to food for school children in low-income households.[1] The program provides electronic benefits for food assistance to students eligible for free or reduced-price meals for school closures of five consecutive days or more. In order to participate in P-EBT, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) must submit a proposal as the lead agency to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), working closely with the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) to identify and communicate with eligible students. Benefits can be retroactive, and each child will be issued $5.70 per day of school closure.[2] In total, P-EBT would help cover the cost of food for 170,596 Nebraska children in low-income households and provide an estimated $53.5 million in federal funds to be spent in local grocery stores. Policy Basics Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP): SNAP is the nation’s most effective antipoverty program, lifting an estimated 17,000 Nebraska children out of poverty annually.[3] Families receive benefits in an Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) that they can use like a debit card to purchase food, and benefit amounts are calculated on a sliding scale, decreasing as family income increases.[4] The program is designed to respond to economic conditions, with states receiving more federal funds as more families become eligible. In hard economic times, SNAP is even more powerful than unemployment insurance—it is estimated that every $1.00 increase in SNAP benefits generates $1.73 in economic activity, compared to $1.64 for unemployment benefits.[5] Households must have incomes below 130% of the federal poverty level (FPL) Benefits are 100% federally funded, and administrative costs are split between federal and state funds SNAP helped over 84,000 Nebraska children in 2018[6] Child Nutrition Programs: The School Breakfast Program (SBP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) are the core federal child nutrition programs that serve Nebraska children during the school day. Federal funds account for the majority school meal expenditures—states receive reimbursements for all meals served, with higher rates for meals served to students eligible for free and reduced-price meals.[7] Children are eligible for free meals if their household income is below 130% of FPL[8] Children are eligible for reduced-price meals if their household income is below 185% of FPL Over 170,596 Nebraska children receive free or reduced-price school meals, or 47.7% of all Nebraska students[9] Pandemic-EBT would provide food assistance to over 170,596 Nebraska children in low-income families The P-EBT option is a common-sense solution to rising food insecurity in the ongoing public health crisis. Although we don’t yet have data about how many children now have unstable access to nutritious food as a result of COVID-19, over 17% of all Nebraska children were food insecure [...]

While the nation is watching the Senate take up proposals designed to dismantle health care for children, the elderly and disabled, and low-income families, the House Budget Committee finalized its vision for the country last week. Though details have yet to be released, the plan paints a gloomy future for Nebraska’s most vulnerable children and youth. The Chair of the committee promised that the budget would save the country “for our children and grandchildren,” when in fact, the budget framework breaks this promise by slashing trillions from programs for the neediest to serve the wealthiest among us. The proposed cuts are unprecedented and alarmingly short-sighted. More children will be unable to access critical preventive and life-saving care with a $1.5 trillion cut from Medicaid—an even larger cut than the House bill to repeal the ACA. Such a cut would seriously compromise health care for many Nebraska children, who make up three-quarters of all Medicaid enrollees in our state. More Nebraska children will go hungry with a $150 billion cut from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which would devastate the program’s efficiency by creating a block grant-type structure. Last year, SNAP lifted 34,000 Nebraskans above the poverty line and helped over 87,000 Nebraska children.[i] Today, 1 in 5 children in our state don’t know where their next meal is coming from, which is certain to rise under the House proposal.[ii] High-poverty schools will lose the opportunity to flexibly serve low-income children breakfast and lunch through a $1.6 billion cut to the Community Eligibility Program (CEP). The House bill raises the threshold for participation in CEP, affecting 5 schools with a total enrollment of 986 students that have already enrolled in the state, and preventing an additional 81 schools from participating.[iii] The budget targets an astounding number of other programs that are crucial to children, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which provides cash assistance to the poorest families and funds child care, work supports, and child welfare in Nebraska; the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which is recognized as one of the most effective anti-poverty programs; and Head Start, which supported over 6,500 of Nebraska’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens last year. Every Nebraskan has a stake in the future of our children and should be deeply concerned by this budget, which is a blueprint for our country to turn its back on its most vulnerable children. Will you join us in asking Nebraska’s members of the House to protect The Good Life for our state’s youngest citizens? Rep. Fortenberry (District 1): (202) 225-4806 Rep. Bacon (District 2): (202) 225-4155 Rep. Smith (District 3): (202) 225-6435 [i] Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, “In Nebraska, Safety Net Lifts Roughly 230,000 People above Poverty Line and Provides Health Coverage to 33 Percent of Children.” [ii] Voices for Children in Nebraska, Kids Count in Nebraska 2016 Report, http://kidscountnebraska.com/economic-stability/#hunger. [iii] Food Research & Action Center, “Facts: Implications of House Budget on Community Eligibility,” http://www.frac.org/wp-content/uploads/frac-facts-implications-house-budget-cep.pdf.

Last week, the Food Research and Action Center released a status update on the adoption of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) across the country. Last year was the third school year that CEP was available to schools and districts with high concentrations of students from low-income families, and the report shows that Nebraska continues to struggle in maximizing this opportunity to ensure that hunger is not a barrier to learning. CEP allows schools to offer breakfast and lunch at no cost to all students. Instead of collecting school meal applications, schools are reimbursed for meals served using a formula based on the percentage of students who are categorically eligible for free meals due to participation in other programs. Schools that have adopted CEP have reported extremely promising effects, including increased meal participation and lower administrative costs. The data from the 2016-2017 school year show that there are significant opportunities to do better for Nebraska students in high-needs schools: Only 27.6% of eligible Nebraska school districts had at least one school participating in CEP, compared to a national average of 46.8%, and; Only 13.6% of eligible Nebraska schools were participating in CEP, compared to a national average of 54.7%. As a percentage of eligible schools who have adopted CEP, Nebraska is currently ranked second-to-last in the country. This low uptake is not for a lack of need—in fact, today, one in five children are food-insecure in Nebraska, and household food insecurity is on the rise. State aid to schools in Nebraska, as it is in many other states, is partially tied to free- and reduced-price meal eligibility. As a result, the state has sought to offer clear policy in how to address the state aid formula for schools that have adopted CEP, as recently as last legislative session. Nevertheless, the low rate of participation in Nebraska represents a missed opportunity in utilizing a targeted solution to child hunger. Sign up for our advoKID to receive updates as we continue to monitor the issue and identify barriers to CEP adoption in our state. To find out more about CEP and to find out if your school or district is eligible, click here.  

This week, we are joining President Obama, schools, communities, and advocates across the nation in celebrating National School Lunch Week. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) was created 70 years ago as lawmakers recognized that child nutrition, particularly throughout the school day, was a top national priority. Most importantly, the NSLP and its newer counterparts, such as the School Breakfast Program and Summer Food Service Program, provides free or subsidized meals to children from low-income households. School nutrition programs, alongside other federal nutrition assistance programs, are crucial in mitigating the adverse outcomes associated with childhood hunger. Research and conventional wisdom shows that hunger is a significant barrier to learning and academic performance.[1] There is much to celebrate about the NSLP as an invaluable fixture in Nebraska schools and communities; in SY 2013-14: Nearly 45% of enrolled students eligible for free or reduced-price meals[2] About 90% of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals participating in NSLP[3] Almost 2.5 million lunches served to children from low-income families Nearly $60 million in federal reimbursements for lunches served The program provides vital enrichment and benefits to schools and local communities at a relatively low cost to the state, with state funds accounting for less than 0.3% of total program funding.[4] Federal reimbursements are higher for free and reduced-price meals served in schools, ensuring that robust meal programs exist in high-poverty schools that already face a number of day-to-day challenges. The current body of research on childhood hunger suggests that breakfast is a particularly important tool in improving behavior and classroom performance in children.[5] Unfortunately, both the provision of breakfast in schools and student participation in breakfast in Nebraska is one of the lowest in the nation, with only about 40 free and reduced-price eligible students participating in breakfast for every 100 participating in lunch. This represents a major missed opportunity in supporting our classrooms in the state, and in the receipt of nearly $10 million in additional federal reimbursements across the state if the breakfast to lunch ratio increased by three-quarters. The good news is that there are a number of options available to schools and districts that want to increase breakfast participation for the benefit of their students. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a new federal option, allows certain high-poverty schools to provide universal free breakfast and lunch to all students without collecting school meal applications. Learn more about CEP and find out if your school or district is eligible here. [1] Howard Taras, “Nutrition and Student Performance at School,” J Sch Health 75, no. 6 (2005):199-213. [2] Voices for Children in Nebraska, Kids Count in Nebraska Report 2015, 37. [3] “Table 204.10,” Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics. [4] Kids Count in Nebraska Report 2015, 37. [5] Katie Adolphus, Clare L. Lawton, and Louise Dye, “The Effects of Breakfast on Behavior and Academic Performance in Children and Adolescents,” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 7(2013): 425.

August means that it’s back to school season in Nebraska! As students and teachers gear up for a full year of learning in the classroom, we at Voices are turning our attention to an important factor in academic success: proper nutrition. Research tells us that hunger negatively impacts academic performance, and is linked to health-related absences, increased behavioral issues, and even suspensions. Fortunately, school meals through the National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs have long since proven to be effective and successful in keeping schools well fed and well read. Access to affordable, nutritious, and balanced meals is an important part of ensuring that children are learning in a healthy and supportive school environment. Since 2014, an exciting option to maximize school meal delivery, the Community Eligibility Provision, has been available to certain schools and districts across the country. The provision allows schools in low-income areas with high-poverty student populations to serve universal lunch and breakfast to students at no cost and without application forms. In the last year, over 18,000 schools with a total enrollment of over 8.5 million children adopted CEP and the results are more than promising. Administrators from CEP schools report increased meal participation, fewer behavioral incidents and visits to the school nurse, reduced administrative burdens, and increased program quality and viability. The success of CEP is well-known to schools and districts across the country, with 50% of all eligible schools adopting in the most recent school year. Nevertheless, Nebraska has reported one of the lowest take-ups of CEP, with only 8% (9 of 112) of eligible schools adopting CEP last year. The good news is that there is still time for more students to benefit from CEP! Schools and districts can continue to adopt CEP through the school year, and the Nebraska Department of Education is offering technical assistance to administrators. Is your school already hunger-free, or could your school be a hunger-free zone? Find your school or district in the most recent notification of eligible schools and districts in the state.

The following is a list of Voices for Children priority legislation for the 105th Legislature. To view the 2016 Sine Die Legislative Update, click here. To contact your state senator click here. Child Welfare LB 746: Implements the federal Strengthening Families Act Introducer: Senator Kathy Campbell Status: Signed by Governor on April 18, 2016 Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s LB746 Testimony LB 975: Adopts the Child Welfare Services Preservation Act Introducer: Senator Mark Kolterman Status: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children position: OPPOSE Click here for Voices for Children’s LB975 Testimony Economic Stability LB 147: Change provisions relating to asset limitations for public assistance Introducer: Senator Sue Crawford Status: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s LB 147 Testimony LB 690: Amends eligibility requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by striking provisions that prohibit those with certain controlled substance-related felony convictions Introducer: Senator Adam Morfeld Status: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s LB690 Testimony LB 701: Eliminates a termination date for ADC work activity requirements to be fulfilled by vocational training Introducer: Senator Heath Mello Status: Provisions of LB 701 were amended into LB 1081 and signed by Governor on March 30, 2016 Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s LB701 Testimony LB 947: State intent relating to professional or commercial licenses for DACA recipients Introducer: Senator Heath Mello Status: Passed notwithstanding the objections of the Governor on April 20, 2016 Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s Letter of Support LB 951: Adopt the Affordable Housing Tax Credit Act Introducer: Senator Burke Harr Status: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s Testimony LB 958: Change provisions relating to budgets, the valuation of agricultural land, and levy limitations Introducer: Senator Mike Gloor Status: Signed by Governor on April 19, 2016 Voices for Children Position: NEUTRAL Click here for Voices for Children’s Testimony LB 1036: Change provisions of the Credit Services Organization Act, the Delayed Deposit Services Licensing Act, and the Nebraska Installment Loan Act Introducer: Senator Kathy Campbell Status: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s Letter of Support LB 1089: Change the minimum wage for persons compensated by way of gratuities Introducer: Senator Matt Hansen Status: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s LB 1089 Letter of Support Department of Revenue – Agency Budget Request Request state appropriations for VITA site funding Click here for Voices for Children’s Testimony Department of Health and Human Services – Agency Budget Request Appropriations for Medicaid and CHIP Click here for Voices for Children’s Testimony Education/Early Childhood LB 889: Adopt the School Readiness Tax Credit Act Introducer: Senator Heath Mello Status: Signed by Governor on April 18, 2016 Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for Voices for Children’s LB 889 Letter of Support LB 939: Adopt the Nebraska Early Childhood Advantage Act Introducer: Senator Heath Mello Status: Indefinitely Postponed Voices for Children Position: SUPPORT Click here for [...]

Last month, the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 (H.R. 5003) advanced from the U.S. House education and Workforce Committee with markups that would significantly change national child nutrition programs for the worse. As this year’s child nutrition reauthorization was being considered by the Committee, we proudly joined 750 other organizations from across the nation to oppose its harmful provisions. Access to healthy and nutritious food is crucial for children. Research shows that hunger and undernutrition is detrimental in all stages of child development, and can result in lifelong consequences on cognition, physical and mental health, and overall well-being.[1] Unfortunately, child hunger is on the rise here in the nation’s breadbasket—last year, 1 in 7 Nebraska households didn’t know where their next meal was coming from.

Wednesday will mark the final day of this year’s legislative session. Voices for Children will post our full legislative sine die in the next couple weeks, but for now, we’d like to take a moment and highlight five victories for Nebraska’s kids: Schools in high-poverty neighborhoods can take advantage of a federal program to feed more children, without fear of penalty. Children learn better when they aren’t hungry, and in 2014, the federal government instituted a program called the Community Eligibility Provision that reimburses high-poverty schools for providing free and reduced lunch to all enrolled children. Nebraska currently ranks second to last in state take-up of the program. Important statutory changes were passed in LB 1066 this year to ensure that schools choosing to take up community eligibility aren’t unfairly penalized. We hope with these changes, more of our schools will begin to offer free and reduced meals to all kids!