In response to a shocking 2012 national survey revealing that three out of five American teachers report hunger in their classrooms, West Virginia’s House of Delegates passed a bill to address childhood hunger, with an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 89-9. Tyler Kingkade from The Huffington Post reports that SB633 — also known as the “Feed to Achieve” Act — will provide free breakfasts and lunches to all K-12 public school students, and make up for any budgetary shortfalls by establishing non-profit organizations to collect donations. W. VA Governor Earl Ray Tomblin is expected to sign the bill into law.
US State Delegate Ray Canterbury (R-Greenbriar), turned the proceedings into a fiery debate when he claimed that school children should be required to work for their school lunches: I think it would be a good idea if perhaps we had the kids work for their lunches: trash to be taken out, hallways to be swept, lawns to be mowed. If they miss a lunch or they miss a meal they might not, in that class that afternoon, learn to add, they may not learn to diagram a sentence, but they’ll learn a more important lesson.