Presented with much outrage, little comment

by David Safier

From Howard Fischer:

Legislation would allow public schools to stop providing free lunch to needy kids

A Senate panel led by an East Valley lawmaker agreed Tuesday to let schools opt out of the federal program to offer free and reduced-price lunches for needy students.

Sen. Rich Crandall, R-Mesa, said the state should not be imposing these mandates on public schools. He said the decision whether to participate in the National School Lunch Program – and deal with the various restrictions – is best left to local school officials.

Crandall said some districts, particularly those with only a small percentage of eligible children, may decide to continue to offer the free or discounted meals, but on their own terms, and with local taxpayers picking up the tab. But he said that, in some cases, schools may scrap the program entirely, meaning that children who want the service will have to transfer to other schools that still offer it.

A LITTLE COMMENT: The outrageous legislation speaks for itself. The bill made it out of the Senate Education Committee, the article says, with a 6-1 vote. Two Democrats are on the committee. Linda Lopez registered a No Vote. I hope that means she was unavoidably absent, not that she was afraid to vote against this heinous bill. The article said David Schapira voted No, but the vote count on the AZ State Lege site has him voting Yes, with the total "AYES: 7   NAYS: 0   NOT VOTING: 1." Either the article or the Lege site is wrong.  David Schapira voted No. [Note: I originally linked to the wrong bill so I misrepresented David Schapira's vote. I regret the error.]