PHOENIX (CBS5) -
A proposal making its way through the state senate could force hundreds of thousands of Arizona children to go hungry.
SB 1061 passed the Senate Education Committee meeting with a vote of 6-1. It removes the language requiring schools to participate in the National School Lunch Program, making it optional for school districts.
Vice President of the Arizona Education Association Joe Thomas says the measure has left teachers not only scratching their heads trying to figure out why this bill is on the table, but sounding off about it as well. "I've never seen one get teachers more upset more quickly than this one that threatens kids' lunches," he said.
Arizona is among the top five states in the country where kids are going hungry. Early numbers from the USDA show more than 661,000 Arizona kids were served by the program last year, which offers free and reduced-price lunches to children of low-income families.
"For decades kids have had school lunches. They've relied on that. In our state when you have one in four kids that live in poverty, this may be the only meal they get that has any kind of nutritional balance to it," said Thomas.
The bill was introduced by State Senator Rich Crandall, who believes local school districts should be able to decide whether to offer the federally-subsidized program.
Thomas sees no reason for the change, saying, "To see this undermined in a way that we just don't understand, it really has us puzzled as to what the real issue is."
Senator Crandall is certainly invested in this issue. He is past president of the Mesa Unified School District and a certified school nutrition specialist.
According to his bio, Crandall heads two companies headquartered in Mesa. With one of them he holds contracts in 14 states overseeing USDA child nutrition programs on behalf of state agencies.
The issue has many people blogging, questioning whether there's a conflict of interest for Sen. Crandall, given the business he runs.
CBS 5 reached out to his office today. His assistant said he was out of town.
The measure now heads to the full senate.
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