Our Daily Show Interview! Free Healthy School Meals: Shelly Wuellner: Advocacy Days Up Ahead!
ILLINOIS – A local cafeteria worker is advocating for free healthy school meals for all kids in Illinois.
Shelly Wuellner has traveled to Washington, D.C. five times in the past few years with the Illinois Healthy School Meals for All coalition. Her most recent trip was “one of the most successful advocacy trips” she has ever had, and now, she encourages community members to speak up about funding free meals for students.
“It was very, very inspiring and reassuring that we’re on the right road. Nothing ever moves as quickly as we want it to, but it’s all heading in the right direction,” she said. “We need the kids fed so that they can learn so that we can produce these educated students.”
During the coalition’s recent trip, they met with the offices of 16 out of 17 Illinois Congressional members and both Senators. In these conversations, coalition members shared data about healthy school meals and the importance of federal funding.
Wuellner explained that the federal government reimburses the state $4.70 for every school lunch. This money pays for the cost of the food, but it also needs to pay for cafeteria staff, training, infrastructure and more.
The Illinois Healthy School Meals for All coalition is advocating for $67 million to be appropriated toward free school meals in Illinois. Wuellner said that, in 2009, Governor Bruce Rauner cut the funding from $220 million to $9 million. They are now asking for $67 million to “help fund the neediest school districts.”
“There are 6.9 million taxpayers in the state of Illinois. If we all paid $36.50 a year, that would give us all of our funding, the $220 million every year to sustain our programs,” she said. “We need to start looking and see, where is this money going? Why can’t we put it toward the school?”
Beyond Illinois, Wuellner and her team are advocating for federal funding. Wuellner noted that this would probably be accomplished in the form of a tax.
Currently, if there is a cafeteria debt, the district will pay that debt from the general ed fund. This is when local property taxes are affected. If the school meals were federally funded, Wuellner said, it wouldn’t touch local property tax.
“Nothing in life is free. It has to be funded,” she explained. “Pulling that out of the general ed fund then pulls money from the education side. That’s when your property taxes come into play. If we were federally funded, we wouldn’t have to be pulling that.”
Wuellner encourages Illinois residents to reach out to their legislators. She said “they want to hear from you” and will often respond to phone calls or requests for appointments. Wuellner is personally available to talk to anyone who has questions or wants to learn more about how to help.
“The coalition has been working hard, and we’re actually getting a little bit of traction,” she added. “Our goal is to get everyone to sign on board and say, ‘Yes, we support healthy school meals for all, and let’s get it funded.’”
