PA Lawmakers push for measures banning 'lunch shaming' in schools

Lawmakers from Pennsylvania are introducing bills at the state and federal level to ban the practice known as “lunch shaming” — taking away school meals or using other means to single out children with unpaid lunch bills. Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills, proposed legislation to end the practice, and a similar measure has since been put forth by state Reps. Dan Miller, D-Mt. Lebanon, and Donna Bullock, D-Philadelphia. Mr. Costa’s legislation, Senate Bill 709, would require school districts to serve meals to all children — even those with depleted lunch accounts or who are short on lunch money — and to reach out to those families in need. The bill also would prevent schools from “marking” or humiliating children whose “families owe money to a school.”