NEW YORK—Marble Hill High School sophomore Saira Majid, 15, waits until after school to eat lunch. Though her family’s income is high enough to disqualify her from the free lunch program, the $1.75 her school charges for lunch each day compels her to wait until she gets home to eat.
“A lot of people I know don’t eat lunch because they have to pay,” she said.
While the $73.9 billion budget plan released by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday included no mention of the City Council’s proposed measure to provide free lunches to all public school students, local advocates hope the final budget will allocate funding for the measure.