Today, Assembly Bill A5573, which will require New Jersey school districts which provide the national school lunch program be expanded to include all children regardless of income eligibility, passed a critical committee hearing.

However, the bill as introduced would have excluded children who attend private schools from being included in the expansion.

As a result of the advocacy of Agudath Israel’s New Jersey office, the bill’s sponsors have now amended the bill to include private school children as well.

This means that the state would cover the cost for all students to participate in the breakfast and lunch programs, not just students from low-income families, enabling many more yeshivas and day schools to participate in the program and provide free breakfast and lunch to thousands of children across the state who are not currently receiving a free nutritious meal.

In addition, because of the increased cost of kosher food, many schools that do have children that are eligible for the Federal School Lunch Program do not provide this service because there are not enough children to make the program financially feasible, resulting in the most needy children not receiving lunches or breakfast.

“Like all other children in the state, yeshiva and Jewish day school children deserve to receive healthy and nutritious meals, which are a lifeline to parents struggling through the effects of rising inflation,” said Rabbi Avi Schnall, director of Agudah’s New Jersey Office.

“Food insecurity, combined with rising prices for food, gas and labor, continue to seriously impact many families and it was imperative to include all children in this.”

“Agudath Israel expresses our appreciation to Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, Assemblyman Gary Schaer, and the rest of the sponsors for their leadership on this bill” Rabbi Schnall added. “We will continue to work with them in their long-standing efforts to ensure that all children in the state can be treated equally on such an important issue.”

Agudath Israel’s New Jersey office also expresses its sincere appreciation to Mr. Assaf Shmuel of Edison for his critical efforts in ensuring private school children are included in this monumental legislation.