By Jake Meyers, Staff Writer

In July of this year, California State Governor Gavin Newsom passed a law that allows all California public school students to receive two free meals a day. This law invests $54 million to feed all 6.2 million public school students. The pandemic was a major reason this law was passed as many families are now in a financial crisis and unable to afford full meals for their children. With this law passed, all students can receive free lunch and breakfast during the entire school week.

Free food seems good for everyone, but the debate to keep everyone fed while balancing the economy is raging in Sacramento. Many in the government are afraid the free lunches will make the people become even more dependent on the government. While the argument continues, we will still be receiving free lunches. 

There are both pros and cons with having free school meals. Many state that the benefits include giving more people an incentive to eat; they would go get food just because it’s free. Although free food has many benefits, every benefit comes with consequences. Many students end up wasting the free food and much of it isn’t eaten. Because of this problem, there is more trash left on the tables, especially the Juniors. Mills students have also been experiencing daily impacts due to lunches being free. “It’s impacted me positively because I don’t need to ask my parents every month to refill my lunch account, although the lines are longer now,” states Chester Ho (11). Chester also states that the chicken pesto pasta should be added back to the menu again and notices that the portions are quite small. 

Some of the students here at Mills say the lunches have changed in quality and taste from before, when they had a price. “The lunches tasted mediocre in past years”, says Kyle Bitner (11). Others also emphasize the difference in quality. “The lunches this year definitely feel more fresh than they did in previous years,” states Brendan Phimsoutham (11). The food this year is healthier which is good, but many students don’t like it. ‘We need salt’ is a common complaint heard during lunch. Others also wonder why the juice is frozen solid. How should they drink it if you can’t even put a straw in? We can see there is definitely a change in quality and taste, but some students also feel that there is now a smaller menu. “There are less options than before,” says Warren Kuang (12), similar to Chester’s complaint. 

After this year, California’s government plans to invest $650 million into ongoing funds by 2022-2023 to permanently continue offering two free meals a day for all California students. As of now, California and Maine are the only two states participating in offering free meals for all. Hopefully the investment for ongoing plans will help to improve food quality and taste.