04/28/2025 08:00 AM House EDUCATION

        HB  12-FREE BREAKFAST & LUNCH IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
9:24:33 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  HIMSCHOOT announced  that the  final order  of business                                                               
would be  HOUSE BILL NO. 12,  "An Act relating to  free breakfast                                                               
and lunch in public schools."                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
9:24:57 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
REPRESENTATIVE MAXINE DIBERT, Alaska  State Legislature, as prime                                                               
sponsor, presented HB 12 to  the committee.  She briefly remarked                                                               
that HB 12  would allow for students in Alaska  to have access to                                                               
free meals within its public schools.                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
9:26:15 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
DR.  LISA PARADY,  Executive Director,  Alaska Council  of School                                                               
Administrators, gave invited testimony on  HB 12.  She emphasized                                                               
how the  advancement of  the proposed  legislation would  lead to                                                               
enhanced academic  performance, student  behavior, and  a lowered                                                               
stigma  towards reduced  rate or  fully subsidized  school meals.                                                               
She  pointed  to surveys  conducted  in  27 school  districts  in                                                               
Alaska  by the  Alaska  Council of  School Administrators  (ACSA)                                                               
that found that  21 school districts in Alaska  use their general                                                               
fund dollars to fund its  food programs and emphasized the higher                                                               
cost of  food and services  in rural school districts  in Alaska.                                                               
She  said  that  adequate  state  or  federal  support  would  be                                                               
necessary to pay for what  a school district's general fund might                                                               
not be able to.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
9:34:49 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
RACHAEL MILLER, Chief Advocacy Officer,  Foodbank of Alaska, gave                                                               
invited  testimony on  HB 12.   She  emphasized that  one in  six                                                               
children  in   Alaska  experience  hunger  and   highlighted  how                                                               
universal  school  meals could  be  a  powerful tool  to  address                                                               
malnutrition in  Alaska's children.   She pointed to  the state's                                                               
commitment to a  viable public school system as  evidence for the                                                               
necessity of free  school meals and said that  the meals proposed                                                               
by  HB  12 would  boost  academic  performance, decrease  chronic                                                               
absenteeism,  improve student  behavior,  and  contribute to  the                                                               
economic relief of families.                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
9:41:24 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR HIMSCHOOT opened public testimony on HB 12.                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
9:42:01 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
RACHEL  LORD,  Advocacy &  Policy  Director,  Alaska Food  Policy                                                               
Council,  testified in  support of  HB 12.   She  shared how  the                                                               
Homer Parent-Teacher  Organization (PTO)  would put on  a pancake                                                               
breakfast  during statewide  testing days,  of which  resulted in                                                               
nearly  zero students  being late  to school  during those  days.                                                               
She emphasized  the benefits of  HB 12 and urged  the committee's                                                               
support of the proposed legislation.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
9:44:14 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
LEAH WOOLARD, representing  self, testified in support  of HB 12.                                                               
She  pointed to  recent years  where her  children could  receive                                                               
free school  meals and  emphasized their  outsized impact  on her                                                               
children and family as a whole.                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
9:45:49 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
EVELYNN  TREFON, representing  self, testified  in support  of HB
.    She  shared  that  the cost  of  living  in  Newhalen  has                                                               
skyrocketed  in the  past few  years and  stressed how  universal                                                               
school meals  could work to  alleviate costs to  already burdened                                                               
families in rural Alaska.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
9:48:42 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
TOM KLAAMEYER, President, NEA Alaska,  testified in support of HB
.    He  emphasized  the   National  Education  Association  of                                                               
Alaska's strong support for HB 12  and said that he has witnessed                                                               
firsthand the impact that hunger  has on schoolchildren.  He said                                                               
that  hunger leads  to behavioral  issues,  learning issues,  and                                                               
emotional issues in  children and spoke to the need  for the free                                                               
meals to be free of stigma.                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
9:51:11 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
SUNNY  GERAGHTY, representing  self, testified  in support  of HB
.   She  said that  food security  is an  "incredibly important                                                               
fact of life" and urged the committee's support HB 12.                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
9:52:03 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
DANIEL  PARKS,  General  Manager,  Southeast  Alaska  Food  Bank,                                                               
testified  in support  of  HB 12.   He  said  that the  Southeast                                                               
Alaska Food  Bank helps  to feed many  families each  week, which                                                               
include about 100-150  kids.  He echoed  the previous testifier's                                                               
remark that  passing HB  12 would be  an "investment  in Alaska's                                                               
future" and urged the committee's support of HB 12.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
9:54:24 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHARITY BLANCHETT,  CEO, Dipping  Spoon, testified in  support of                                                               
HB  12.     She  said  that  indigenous  youth   in  Alaska  have                                                               
historically   been   forced   to  eat   highly   processed   and                                                               
malnutritious meals and emphasized how HB  12 could be used as an                                                               
avenue of decolonization.                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                
9:56:24 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
IRENE BOLL,  representing self,  testified in  support of  HB 12.                                                               
She explained how  the burden of food debt places  a major stress                                                               
on families in  Alaska and said that the passing  of the proposed                                                               
legislation would  end a  great deal of  worry for  many families                                                               
working to pay for their children's school meals.                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
9:58:13 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
DEBORAH BENNETT,  representing self,  testified in support  of HB
.   She explained that the  proposed policies of HB  12 & their                                                               
associated  benefits   are  "well  established"  and   urged  the                                                               
committee's support of HB 12.                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
9:59:23 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
BERNIE  HOFFMAN, representing  self, testified  in support  of HB
.  She  said that the Alaska State Legislature  must "reach out                                                               
and do whatever it can" to help the next generation of Alaskans.                                                                
                                                                                                                                
10:01:12 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CO-CHAIR  HIMSCHOOT, after  ascertaining  that there  was no  one                                                               
else who wished to testify, closed public testimony on HB 12.                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
10:01:45 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
ADJOURNMENT                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
There being no  further business before the  committee, the House                                                               
Education Standing Committee meeting was adjourned at 10:01 a.m.