With 100% of Maryland public schools offering healthy meal options, I am proud to know that our students have access to nutritious food.

I also know that providing access to healthy meals for all students tears down the stigma and barriers that come with food scarcity and need.

I hope the Maryland General Assembly will agree and pass legislation that would begin to build toward funding a program offering no-cost meals to students regardless of their socioeconomic status.

I have experienced the impact offering healthy school meals for all can have on learning. During the pandemic, all Maryland children attending public schools and participating nonpublic institutions were offered school meals at no cost to the student and their families. I witnessed students being available for learning because they were fed nutritious meals — they didn’t hesitate to eat, because the stigma of needing food was eliminated. I also didn’t need to have readily available snacks in my classroom, because students were no longer hungry.

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Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case once school meals were no longer made available at no cost to all students.

Once again, hungry students who didn’t qualify for free or reduced lunch but couldn’t afford a meal suffered and couldn’t fully concentrate with empty stomachs.

The American Heart Association and the Healthy School Meals for All Maryland Coalition have been fierce advocates for all Maryland students to have access to healthy meals while they’re learning and growing at school. Students need to be ready to learn, with no worries about where their next meal will come from.

I stand in solidarity with the American Heart Association and many students, teachers, parents, advocates and policymakers who know how important this effort is, and my hope is that we can once again make healthy meals available for all students at no cost to them. We must equip students with what they need — their future depends on it.

Mary Kay Connerton is the Anne Arundel County Public Schools coordinator of wellness, a 2024 Maryland State Teacher of the Year and a volunteer advocate for the American Heart Association.