Correction
The caption for the attached photo was updated to clarify the person with the lunch tray is a Denton ISD staff member, not a student.
For Chris Bomberger and Liz Raftery, who lead Denton ISD’s child nutrition program, hunger has been a persistent challenge, and now a worsening one.
Denton ISD has seen growth in the number of students who qualify for free and reduced-cost lunches. And Congress passed an omnibus spending package over the summer that will cut 20% of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, through 2034.
The cuts will total about $186 billion, and will be felt in public schools. Schools aren’t funded directly by SNAP, but when households lose their eligibility for SNAP food benefits, they also lose their automatic eligibility for the free and reduced-cost lunch program. The bill also cut funding to local farms, many of which have been able to supply public schools in their communities with fresh, whole foods thanks to federal funds.
“We’re about 48-49% free and reduced in the district,” said Bomberger, the district’s executive director of risk management and child nutrition. “We’ve had, over the past seven or eight years, a trend that it’s increased as our population continues to grow. As our population continues to grow, we expect this population to grow with it. That’s how the trend usually goes.”
Putting food on the school breakfast and lunch table is a formidable part of the district’s budget. For the 2025-26 budget, child nutrition is projected to cost Denton ISD $25 million.
The district will spend $3.8 million from the National School Breakfast Program. Lunches, though, really expose the need, with $12.5 million from the National School Lunch Program. When students push their trays through the breakfast and lunch line this school year, they can choose from $1.6 million in donated commodities, which are bulk raw foods from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Schools can buy them to serve whole, or process them into ready-to-eat meals and snacks.
According to Feeding Texas, the state has the highest population of food insecurity in the nation, with 5.3 million Texans facing food insecurity. Feeding Texas is a network of 20 food banks and advocates that work to reduce hunger through policy work.
In a report that just came out, the Education Data Initiative found that Texas now leads the nation in the number of children in food-insecure homes, with 1.7 million children in need.
The state’s latest school lunch debt, which is the amount of money owed for school meals, sits at just under $1 billion.
Feeding Texas says that food insecurity is the lack of access to enough food to have a healthy lifestyle. Households affected by food insecurity face a number of challenges, such as the inability to afford enough food for their families, or an inadequate variety of nutritious food.
The rate of food insecurity in Texas has risen from 16.4% to 17.6% since last year’s report. Currently, 1 in 6 households in Texas is food-insecure.
Bomberger and Raftery said Denton ISD benefits from partnerships. For some students, the school year might be the only time they eat most days of the week.
Raftery, the district’s child nutrition department director, said Denton ISD has partnerships with the Tarrant Area Food Bank and North Texas Food Bank and has food closets in schools.
“The leadership of the campuses work with food banks, so the meals available to children are not disrupted on the weekends,” Raftery said. “It’s hard to tell if hunger will continue to be a driver, even if the economy gets better. It’s hard to say what is better for every family.”
Raftery said the district also works with the city to serve campuses in the central part of Denton. They work with local partners, too. Bomberger and Raftery praised Denton business owner John Williams, chief owner of the East Oak Dangeline’s group, for the group’s annual Mac and Cheese Fest, which has raised tens of thousands of dollars to pay off Denton ISD lunch debts.
Last year, the event was held in November at East Side Denton, Oak Street Drafthouse, Miss Angeline’s and Dan’s Silverleaf and raised $17,000 for Denton ISD lunch accounts. When a student’s lunch account reaches zero, their school serves them a courtesy meal and applies a charge.
Bomberger said Denton ISD’s social work department offers guidance to families facing food insecurity and other human services needs, regardless of income status.
He said campuses can help families apply for free and reduced lunch benefits throughout the school year. One of the benefits of the program is that it’s designed to qualify students when crises strike. A family can start the year with full employment and reliable transportation but be upended by a layoff, an emergency or illness after school starts.
Bomberger and Raftery said students aren’t turned away if they can’t pay.
“When the kids show up, we feed them,” Bomberger said. “We know hunger is pervasive in Denton ISD. We’ve had an increase within our program, with breakfast and lunch, in the past year for our central Denton campuses, a double-digit increase. Lunch participation increased between 2 and 5%.”
Raftery said there are campuses enrolled in a federal subsidy program that allows all students to eat meals without paying. The link between hunger and learning is well researched, and the findings are that hunger has a negative effect on learning, on behavior and on test performance.
“We have a very high free and reduced population,” she said. “Our community eligibility sites are free. There are eight of those campuses, and almost all of them are elementary schools.”
At those eight schools, all students are eligible for free breakfast and lunch, which were funded through federal support:
The campuses funded for free breakfast and lunch are:
- Ann Windle School for Young Children
- Alexander Elementary
- Borman Elementary
- Evers Park Elementary
- Hodge Elementary
- Rivera Elementary
- Stephens Elementary
- Davis School, Denton ISD’s alternative education program site
Feeding Texas CEO Celia Cole told media outlets over the summer that Texas institutions should brace for impact in the face of federal food program cuts.
“In Texas, the consequences will be severe,” Cole said. “The state will be forced to absorb an estimated $806 million annually in new SNAP obligations, placing an untenable strain on our budget and threatening the food security of millions of Texans.
“Families already struggling to afford groceries, rent and health care will face even greater hardship. Seniors, veterans, working parents and children will be pushed further into poverty — not because they’ve done anything wrong, but because the burden of balancing the budget was placed disproportionately on those already facing the greatest challenges.”
Cole said that the gaps Congress has opened with this suite of cuts can’t be closed by a patchwork of community-based nonprofits. The financial costs and the logistic demands are too big for local food pantries, food drives and churches to meet. Advocates who work in hunger reduction programs don’t deny the importance of local groups that feed hungry residents. But with a leaner SNAP program, those small organizations will face more people living with food insecurity and chronic hunger.
“At the heart of a just and compassionate society is the belief that no one should go hungry. Access to food is a basic human need. Ensuring that every person, regardless of age, parental or employment status, or other circumstance, can put food on the table is not just a matter of policy — it’s a reflection of our shared values,” Cole said.
Bomberger and Raftery said Denton ISD will feed students “regardless of what happens at the federal level.”
“While we’re worried, we will do everything we can to get families the services they need, whether it’s SNAP, [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families] or Medicaid, we’ll mark it back to the beginning of the next year,” Bomberger said. “The principals are very in tune with their campuses. We don’t want anyone to fall off our radar. While we’re worried about what’s happening in the federal government, if the kids are on that program, we feed them for the entire year.”
Raftery said parents and guardians can ask for applications and information on their student’s campus. Parents can also access forms and information on the district’s smartphone apps, or on the district website.