If your kids don't receive free or low-cost breakfasts and lunches at school, you may have been surprised by the percentage of Traverse City students who do. If your kids qualify, this was old -- and all-too-familiar -- news.
Figures released last month tell a story about Traverse City and northwest Lower Michigan that a lot of people probably don't know and wouldn't expect: There are a lot more people out there living right on the edge than many of us thought.
At two Traverse City schools -- Traverse Heights Elementary and Traverse City High School -- 80 percent or more of students get decent, free or reduced-price meals at school.
At Traverse City High, the district's alternative high school, the percentage is 81 percent of the 180 or so students, some of whom have children of their own. By comparison, 31 percent of West Senior High students and 30 percent of Central High School students get the discount.
Even those numbers surprise. Roughly a third of all high-school-age students live in homes where the income falls below federal figures. For a family of four, that means $28,665, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service. A family of four earning between $28,665 and $40,793 would qualify for a reduced-cost meal.
Under the National School Lunch Act of 1946, the federal government reimburses school districts for meal costs. Reduced-price meals are 30 cents for breakfast and 40 cents for lunch. A full-price school breakfast costs $1.25 for elementary students and $1.50 for secondary students. Lunch is $2.10 for elementary and $2.35 for secondary. Children whose families receive Michigan food stamps automatically qualify.
The Traverse Heights and high school figures tell only part of the story. Percentages are amazingly high at a lot of Traverse City elementary schools -- 76 percent at Blair Elementary, 58 percent at Interlochen Elementary, 48 percent at Cherry Knoll Elementary and 43 percent at Long Lake Elementary.
Traverse City is hardly unique.
About 70 percent of the 730 or so students in Forest Area Community Schools get free or reduced meals, up from 66 percent last year. In Mancelona, about 750 students in kindergarten through 12th grade receive some form of assistance, a range of 63 to 78 percent, depending on the school. In Leland, about 40 percent of the 450 K-12 students are registered, up from a more typical 30 percent.
Much of this, including most of the recent increases, is almost surely due to the relentless recession Michigan has been in for at least five years now.
Virtually every district reports school lunch program increases at virtually every grade level.
Thankfully, the 1946 Act still exists, and there is a way to at least stem the hunger pangs.
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