By Joseph Edelen

DOVER — Delaware House of Representatives lawmakers are consolidating their efforts in a bipartisan attempt to increase access to school meals for low-income students.

In April 2023, Rep. Rae Moore, D-Middletown, introduced a bill to provide free breakfast and lunch to all Delaware students, which would have cost the state an average of $40 million in each of the next three fiscal years.

This led Rep. Bryan Shupe, R-Milford, to introduce his own less costly version of the proposal March 28. It would provide free breakfast and lunch to students eligible for federal reduced-price meal programs.

The national requirements extend to students whose family incomes are between 130% and 185% of federal poverty guidelines.

At the beginning of Wednesday’s House Education Committee meeting, Rep. Shupe announced that he would be withdrawing his attempt to partner with Rep. Moore on a substituted version of her bill that incorporates his ideas in attempt to lower the proposals’ cost to the state.

“I love the heart of (Rep. Moore’s original) bill,” Rep. Shupe told the Daily State News. “Especially being in the minority party, a lot of times my focus is creating bills that will spark dialogue and spark ideas, and I’m glad in this case, we were able to do that. Rep. Moore, I think, recognized … that there were more people interested in helping out kids on the reduced lunch plan while keeping the fiscal note lower.”

Under the new initiative – House Substitute 1 for House Bill 125 – all Delaware schools would be required to offer free breakfast and lunch to students who qualify for a reduced-price meal under the federal programs.

While the fiscal note for this version has not yet been completed, the price tag of Rep. Shupe’s similar proposal amounted to an average of around $246,000 over each of the next three fiscal years.

The measure also requires all qualified schools to participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision, in which 127 of Delaware’s 250 public schools take part. The program allows students whose family incomes are below federal poverty guidelines to receive free meals via reimbursement to the districts.

Schools that operate with the Community Eligibility Provision are reimbursed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) using a specific formula. Under the bipartisan Delaware proposal, the state Department of Education would reimburse schools for expenses not covered by the USDA using a formula dependent on how many of these meals are served by the school.

“This was about saying, ‘Is there a way that we can help the families really in need, but also bringing down that fiscal note?’” Rep. Shupe said. “That’s when I came up with the idea of helping the reduced lunch kids with getting the part that’s not covered by the federal government, but also not funding families that are making larger sums of money that can afford it.”

The attempt to ease the financial burden of school meals for low-income families builds off the USDA’s allowance of free school breakfast and lunch during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those waivers expired in June 2022.

Following the introduction of the new, bipartisan version of the bill Wednesday, Rep. Shupe said he and Rep. Moore are hoping to get it passed through the House of Representatives by the end of April.

That way, he said, Senate lawmakers will have the chance to pass the bill and send it to the governor’s desk by the June 30 end to the legislative session. In the Senate, the effort will be led by Majority Whip Elizabeth “Tizzy” Lockman, D-Wilmington.

Should the measure pass and become law in the First State, it would take effect beginning with the 2026-2027 school year, according to the bill.

House Substitute 1 for House Bill 125 has been assigned to the House Appropriations Committee for further consideration on the legislation’s fiscal impact.