Carlos Curbelo’s experience on the Miami School Board didn’t prevent him from throwing Florida Public School students under bus last week, when he voted to make it harder of students from poor communities to get free lunches. As member of the House Education Committee, Congressman Curbelo joined House Republicans in a vote to roll back a program that allows for high poverty school districts to offer free meals to all students.
“Instead of making sure high poverty schools have an easy pathway to offer free lunches, Carlos Curbelo and his Republican colleague are unnecessarily trying to erect barriers to make it more difficult for schools to offer free meals to students from poor communities.” – Jermaine House, DCCC Spokesman
BACKGROUND
Education Committee Advanced Child Nutrition Reauthorization Bill That Rolled Back Program Helping Low-Income Children Get Free School Lunches. “House Republicans appear determined to advance an aggressive rollback of a program credited with helping low-income children get free school lunches […]Criticisms have centered on proposed changes to the community eligibility provision, which currently allows high-poverty school districts, with 40 percent or more of their student population from families receiving government assistance like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to offer free meals to all of their students.” [Huffington Post, 5/18/16]
- HEADLINE: House GOP Is Determined To Make It Harder For Poor Kids To Get Free School Lunches
Curbelo Voted To Advance Final Bill That Included Rolling Back School Lunches [Committee on Education and the Workforce Record of Committee Vote, 5/18/16]
Curbelo Voted Against Amendment That Would Strike Language Changing The Community Eligibility Provision Threshold To 60 Percent. [Committee on Education and the Workforce Record of Committee Vote, Roll Call #1, 5/18/16]
Child Hunger Groups And School Nutrition Association Called The Measure “Reckless.” “Republicans on the committee said the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 is necessary to beat back what they see as an oversized federal role in school meals, but a broad range of groups, including child hunger groups and the School Nutrition Association, voiced opposition to the measure, calling it ‘reckless.’” [Education Week, 5/19/16]
59 Percent Of Florida Students Qualify As Low Income. [ThinkProgress, 4/28/16]