Hunger in the Classroom: The Urgent Need for School-Based Food Security

As educators, we witness the harsh realities of child hunger with painful regularity. Students arrive at school exhausted, irritable, or unable to focus, not due to lack of effort or discipline, but because they haven’t eaten. Hunger wears many faces: the child who puts their head down during morning lessons, the one who lashes out unexpectedly, or the student who quietly watches others eat without anything of their own. These behaviors are not rooted in laziness or neglect. They are symptoms of unmet basic needs, often resulting from a family's struggle to afford enough food.

Hunger is not a moral failing. It is an economic one. For many children, the meals they receive at school are their only consistent source of nutrition. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, over 9 million children lived in food-insecure households in 2022, meaning their access to sufficient food was uncertain at times throughout the year due to a lack of money or other resources¹. This crisis is not isolated to certain communities. It affects rural, suburban, and urban schools alike, crossing geographic and demographic lines. As school staff, we see the consequences of this hunger not just in our students' health, but in their ability to learn and thrive.

Municipal governments have started responding to these realities by embedding food security into broader infrastructure planning. For example, the City of Minneapolis launched the “Stable Homes, Stable Schools” initiative, a collaborative effort between the city, public schools, and housing organizations. While its primary focus is on housing stability, the program includes wraparound services such as food access support. By integrating food programs into housing and education policy, cities can address hunger at its root and in the classroom. These multi-agency collaborations demonstrate how coordinated municipal infrastructure can alleviate food insecurity in school settings.

Maslow's Hierarchy and the Prerequisite of Nutrition

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs reminds us that before any child can engage in higher-level thinking, their most basic physiological needs must be met. Food, water, shelter, and safety form the foundation upon which learning is built. When a child is hungry, their brain prioritizes survival, not academic achievement. Expecting a student who hasn’t eaten since yesterday’s lunch to focus on long division or sentence structure is neither realistic nor compassionate.

This framework is not just theoretical. It plays out daily in classrooms across the country. When basic needs go unmet, students exhibit decreased attention spans, heightened emotional reactivity, and poor memory retention. Research in child development confirms that chronic undernutrition in school-age children is linked to lower academic performance and increased behavioral issues². Addressing hunger, then, is not an extracurricular concern or an optional support service. It is a prerequisite for education.

In El Paso, Texas, the school district partnered with the city’s Department of Public Health to install on-campus food pantries stocked with nutritious staples. These pantries are located in easily accessible but discreet areas of the school, aligned with the understanding that nutritional support is essential for learning. The model is part of the city’s broader “Healthy El Paso” infrastructure plan that recognizes food access as a public health and educational priority. Through localized infrastructure investments, the district reinforces Maslow’s hierarchy in real, tangible ways.

The Impact of Economic Hardships on Child Hunger

The COVID-19 pandemic heightened food insecurity across the United States. Job losses, disruptions in school meal programs, and increased household expenses left many families struggling to put food on the table. According to Feeding America, child food insecurity rose significantly during the pandemic and remains above pre-pandemic levels in many areas³. Even as some economic indicators improve, many families continue to face instability due to inflation, housing costs, and reduced access to emergency supports.

When government shutdowns or delays in benefit programs such as SNAP occur, the ripple effect is immediate in our schools. Children arrive hungrier, and school food service staff note increased demand. These disruptions hit hardest in low-income households that already operate on tight margins. The consequences are plain to see in school attendance rates, classroom behavior, and academic engagement. Educators are not economists, but we are frontline witnesses to the damage economic hardship inflicts on children’s ability to learn.

During the pandemic, the City of San Antonio demonstrated how municipal infrastructure could be leveraged to support food security. Through its Emergency Housing Assistance Program, the city provided rental support along with direct food assistance, including delivery of groceries to families with children enrolled in public schools. This integrated response helped buffer the effect of economic disruptions on students’ access to nutrition. The city also used CARES Act funding to expand school meal distribution logistics, such as purchasing refrigerated trucks and increasing cold storage capacity, ensuring continued access to meals even during school closures.

Strengthening School-Based Food Support Programs

Schools have a critical role to play in mitigating child hunger. One of the most impactful steps is to strengthen and expand access to school breakfast and lunch programs. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows schools in high-poverty areas to provide free meals to all students without requiring applications. This reduces stigma and increases participation. Districts that have implemented CEP have reported improved attendance, better academic outcomes, and decreased disciplinary issues⁴.

In Newark, New Jersey, the school district partnered with municipal agencies to implement CEP across nearly all public schools. With support from the city’s Department of Economic and Housing Development, Newark schools also piloted a program to offer hot breakfasts