Exclusive: Teachers increasingly worried about childhood hunger, survey finds
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Teachers across the country are growing increasingly worried about childhood hunger, with three-quarters reporting students come to school hungry, a nationally representative survey of U.S. teachers found.
The big picture: Proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, a federal food assistance program serving more than 41 million Americans, could exacerbate an already dire issue, experts say.
- Around 40% of SNAP benefits go to children, per USDA data.
What they're saying: "SNAP is one of the most effective tools we have as a nation to address childhood hunger," Sarah Steely, director of No Kid Hungry Virginia, told Axios.
- "It provides families with that extra help to put food on the table so that kids can have access to consistent nutrition all year round, especially filling the void during school breaks."
Zoom in: Nearly 8 in 10 (78%) of teachers said they were concerned about food insecurity in the communities where they teach, per a survey of 1,000 K-12 public school teachers.
- It was commissioned by meal kit provider HelloFresh in partnership with No Kid Hungry, a campaign focused on ending childhood hunger.
- "Teachers are sounding the alarm that the state of hunger in this country and in their classrooms is really unacceptable," Steely said.
- She added that the stark figure shows "we're failing our students and that we need to do better."
By the numbers: About three-quarters (74%) of teachers said they see students come to school hungry at least monthly, per the survey.
- About six in 10 teachers (61%) reported knowing firsthand that their students are experiencing hunger.
State of play: Food prices skyrocketed during the pandemic, but have continued to climb since, growing 23.6% from 2020 to 2024 and outpacing overall inflation, per the U.S. Economic Research Service.
- "Food insecurity grew, and it didn't stop growing after the end of the pandemic," said Jeff Yorzyk, senior director of sustainability at HelloFresh. "So we're seeing a growing problem there, and we're seeing shrinking resources being put against it."
- Almost half of teachers surveyed said they've grown more concerned about food insecurity compared to the past 12 months.
- Rising cost of food (79%) and low household incomes (74%) were cited as the top barriers that teachers believe are preventing their students from getting enough to eat.
Between the lines: The Trump administration's new tariffs and retaliatory action could cause food prices to rise again.
- In addition, House Republicans voted last month to pass a budget resolution that sets the stage for $230 billion or more in cuts to agriculture programs, with a large chunk expected to come from SNAP.
- "It is exactly the type of program that helps families during these times of concern," Steely said. "This is not the time to be cutting SNAP."
The bottom line: A large majority of teachers, 88%, agreed they would like to see more done about the current state of hunger and food insecurity in general.
- "We definitely saw really strong results with teachers feeling that policy solutions should be in place," Yorzyk told Axios.
- "There's a real need for state, federal and local government to partner in addressing this," he said, adding there's a place for corporations to be a part of the solution too.
- "Teachers have enough going on, and they should be able to focus their time on educating our nation's students, and not feeding them," Steely said.
The fine print: The online survey was conducted among 1,000 K-12 public school teachers between Jan. 30 and Feb. 3.
Go deeper: What cutting junk foods from SNAP could mean for millions of recipients
