Well this is just great. The Charlotte Mecklenburg School Board has voted to implement a universal breakfast program. Yes, universal, meaning every student — and they expect about 147,000 students next year — will be able to eat breakfast on the taxpayers’ dime. I have all kinds of problems with this, but here are a few for starters.
First, schools operate on limited budgets. We hear all the time about how our resources for education are stretched. That means we should be really careful with how we spend the money we do have. When I think about all the things we could do with additional money, expanding a breakfast program to include rich kids is not high on my list. Students from low-income families can already get breakfast at school paid for by taxpayers.
Second, there seems to be a bizarre notion among these school board members that these breakfasts are free. They are not. They are just paid for by someone other than the children’s parents. The board members actually said that, since state and federal subsidies will be used, the program won’t cost anything. At least there’s one school board member, Tom Tate, who understands the basic economic reality. He said, “The cost still comes from us, because it’s taxpayer money.” Yes, that’s exactly right. It does. There’s no such thing as a free lunch – or breakfast.
Third, there are better ways to address the problem of hungry kids. Don’t get me wrong; kids need to eat breakfast. I believe that. But so do lots of parents’ groups, civic organizations, churches, and other voluntary organizations. How about letting them address the problem and come up with creative solutions that don’t need to be funded by taxpayers?
