Lunches provided at Jean Batten Primary School. Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
Public health researchers are arguing against cuts to the free school lunch programme, saying there's even room to extend it to help more hungry children.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour previously confirmed he wanted to cut back government funding for the programme by up to half, saying there had been no "robust empirical study to evaluate its effectiveness".
The Labour-led government funded the Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme until the end of the year in the 2023 Budget. It was piloted in 2020 and then extended to reach a quarter of schools by the end of 2021.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the government was committed to a school lunch programme but wanted to make sure it was working effectively.
University of Auckland researchers said there was ample international and New Zealand evidence to back the benefits of free school lunches in a new briefing from the Public Health Communication Centre.
They found that previous Treasury comments that there was no improvement in school performance or attendance had never been evaluated against school lunches, and the pandemic and increased cost of living were likely explanations for chronic poor attendance figures recorded from 2020 to 2021, the briefing said.
"A supplementary analysis of attendance data in the previous evaluation-released last week-shows an improvement in attendance for the most underserved learners.This amounted to three additional days of school per year, on average, for these kids."
The briefing referred to the findings of Kaupapa Māori review that showed notable shifts in behaviour, attendance and engagement during class for Māori learners.
Associate Education Minister David Seymour. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Dr Kelly Garton said cutting back on free school lunches might put the wider benefits at risk.
"Evaluations of the New Zealand programme have been able to measure effects like reduced student hunger, higher physical and mental wellbeing, and improved alertness and capacity to learn, and better attendance for the learners facing the greatest challenges," Garton said.
An independent study of four Hawke's Bay schools found evidence of improved food security, reduced financial hardship and stress for families, and an increased appreciation of healthy foods, she said.
"International evidence from free school lunch programmes tells us that these gains amplify over time and have a ripple effect on communities and the food system."
Among that international research was a study of New York City middle schools that found academic performance improved across the board when free school lunches were extended to all students.
Professor David Tipene-Leach said most countries that have school lunch programmes feed all their students.
"There is overwhelming evidence that programmes that target so-called 'needy' students, create stigma, and have been linked to lower self-esteem and poorer academic performance."
The authors are parts of a research programme evaluating Ka Ora, Ka Ako.
The Public Health Communication Centre is an independently funded organisation that's hosted by the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago in Wellington.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told RNZ the government was committed to a school lunch programme. "We just want to make sure it's working effectively".
David Seymour told Checkpoint there was agreement among all three parties in the coalition government that a programme offering taxpayer-funded school lunches would continue in "some form". What exactly that would look like was still up for discussion, he said in early March.
He was looking to cut its funding by between 30 and 50 percent - a government saving of between $100m and $160m - but did not want to name an exact figure while he was still receiving advice on the programme, he said.
To make those savings, either the number of schools or students receiving the lunches could be cut, or the programme itself could be changed.
Seymour told Nine to Noon he would look at the evidence and feedback from the community in order to make a decision that balanced the country's books and expectations people have for the programme.
He said the government was in a "difficult position", as the previous government had committed to the spending programme "without commissioning any robust empirical study to evaluate its effectiveness".