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 12. 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 12. 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 12. 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 12. 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 12. 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.