Parent perceptions of school meals and how perceptions differ by race and ethnicity

Abstract

Parental perceptions of school meals can affect student participation and overall support for school meal policies. Little is known about parental school meal perceptions under universal free school meals (UFSM) policies. We assessed California parents' perceptions of school meals during the COVID-19 emergency response with federally funded UFSM and whether perceptions differed by race/ethnicity. Among 1110 California parents of K–12 students, most reported school meals benefit their families, saving them money (81.6%), time (79.2%), and stress (75.0%). Few reported that their child would be embarrassed to eat school meals (11.7%), but more parents of White students than Hispanic students reported this. Many parents reported that their child likes to eat lunch to be with friends (64.7%); about half felt their child has enough time to eat (54.2%). Fewer parents perceived school lunches to be of good quality (36.9%), tasty (39.6%), or healthy (44.0%). Parents of Hispanic and Asian students had less favorable perceptions of school meal quality, taste, and healthfulness than parents of White students. Parents report that school meals benefit their families, but policy efforts are needed to ensure schools have the resources needed to address cultural appropriateness. Schools should address parental perceptions of meals to optimize participation, nutrition security, and health.

The Benefits and Challenges of Providing School Meals during the First Year of California’s Universal School Meal Policy as Reported by School Foodservice Professionals

“…Students benefit by having access to school meals, regardless of whether they can pay for them [ 35 , 36 ]. Finally, families can benefit from not having to worry about their child’s school meal program balance (saving them stress and money) and by not engaging with the school’s staff in debt-collection processes [ 6 ].…”

“…Unfortunately, this tiered eligibility system resulted in barriers to school meal access for many children, including stigma around meal participation, difficulties filling out meal applications, and cutoff points to determine student eligibility that ignored factors like the cost of living [ 3 , 4 ]. A universal school meal (USM) program that offers school meals free of charge to all students has the potential to resolve some of these issues, while providing multiple benefits to students and their families [ 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

“…In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, waivers that allowed schools to offer meals free of charge to all students in school years (SYs) 2020–2022 were extended nationwide [ 8 ]. Research showed that, despite the multiple challenges faced while implementing this federally funded USM program, it provided numerous benefits to schools, students, and families, including increases in student participation in school meal programs and reductions in stigma, meal debt, financial burden, and stress for families, as well as in the administrative paperwork [ 4 , 6 , 9 , 10 ]. Demonstrating the impacts of this federally funded USM program helped some states pass USM legislation starting in SY 2022–2023 or in SY 2023–2024, and some additional states have introduced USM bills or formed coalitions to do so [ 11 ].…”