Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will negatively impact students with free or reduced lunch

Newton Community School District students who were eligible for free lunches last year may have to start paying for reduced meals instead this coming school year, which district food service supervisor Julie Miller says is directly due to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. Miller wouldn’t say it by name.

She called it “the bill” and although it won’t go into effect until January, Miller said she is already seeing changes in a number of Newton students who are being directly certified by the Department of Health and Human Services. Typically, there are about 1,800 to 2,000 students directly certified on the first list in July.

“This July, I had 1,000 students,” Miller said. “And a great many of them who were free last year have been changed to reduced. And that’s been done by the Department of Health and Human Services. So I want you to be aware, as I’m sure you already are, that this bill is going to negatively impact our families.”

Specifically, it will impact their eligibility for free or reduced meals at Newton schools. Miller informed school board members of this during her supervisor report on Aug. 11. She said the bill will not only affect families, it will also affect the school district’s negative balances. Thankfully, that account is not in the red.

“We had enough funds in our donation account to pay off all the meal debt from last school year, which was amazing,” Miller said. “But unless we receive a lot of donations this school year, that’s not going to be possible. We have about $8,500 in our donations account right now. And that won’t make a dent.”

Miller explained that Trump’s bill greatly reduces the amount of students who qualify for Medicaid and SNAP. Those are two categories the school district uses for kids to qualify for free or reduced meals and other reduced fees. This means a family that no longer qualifies for Medicaid may not qualify for free meals.

“They think there’s too much fraud in the universe, so they’re taking things away from the most vulnerable people who could benefit,” Miller said of the bill.

Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill reduces Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $186 billion over the next 10 years. Similarly, the budget bill also slashes away about $700 billion from Medicaid and $500 billion from Medicare over the same time period.

Now more than ever, Miller added, it is critical for families to fill out free or reduced price meal applications.

Currently, the district has more than 1,100 students enrolled in free lunch and about 330 students in reduced lunch. Of those, 329 students will switch to paid on Oct. 3 unless their families complete a new free or reduced meals application. Miller said students’ free or reduced status carries over for the first 30 days.

“I already have plans in place to begin notifying these families by mail and by ParentSquare beginning in September,” Miller said.

SUMMER MEALS UPDATES

Newton Community School District offered Grab & Go meals this summer. Meals were picked up at the high school every Thursday, and there was often a long line of cars surrounding the building. Miller said the school district served 30,000 breakfasts, more than 32,000 lunches and almost 1,700 snacks.

“So that was a grand total of almost 64,000 meals that we fed between the months of June and July,” Miller said. “So I wanted to give a big congratulations to my team that worked there. They worked so hard. Literally blood, sweat and tears went into making this happen. I feel it was very successful.”

Miller acknowledged the families participating in the meals program were very gracious and polite. Miller is convinced the program made a big impact.

“So I’m really excited to see what next summer will look like,” Miller said.

Emerson Hough Elementary and Thomas Jefferson Elementary were also both awarded the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program grant once again. Miller said each student in kindergarten through fourth grade will get a fresh fruit or vegetable snack every Tuesday and Thursday.

In Newton, about 50.48 percent of students in the 2024-2025 school year were eligible for free or reduced lunch. Meanwhile, about 39.55 percent of students are eligible in Colfax-Mingo, 32.66 are eligible in Baxter, 25.35 are eligible in Lynnville-Sully and 24.09 are eligible in PCM, according to state data.

“I just want to help these kids,” Miller said. “And I don’t want to put any extra burden on families. So it’s weighing heavy on me at the start of the school year.”