In an open letter to Nevada parents, Gov. Joe Lombardo touted the state’s programs that provide free meals to more than 80 percent of K-12 students and condemned “partisan attacks” regarding his veto of a bill to fund free meals for all students this school year, two weeks after state Democrats announced plans to revive that legislation.

In the letter sent Wednesday, Lombardo reiterated that more than four-fifths of K-12 students are automatically eligible to receive free school meals because of their school’s Community Eligibility Provision, which allows certain high-poverty schools and districts to serve no-cost breakfast and lunch. This applies to all students in nine counties, including Clark but excluding Washoe, while noting that students enrolled in other federal assistance programs such as SNAP and Medicaid are already eligible for free meals.

The Republican governor also said that “there has been an increase in misinformation about the availability of free school meals” — stemming from continued Democratic opposition to his veto of a bill that would have funded a one-year extension of a pandemic-era program providing universal free school meals.

“I think most Nevadans would agree that politics has no place in our school cafeterias. Families deserve confidence in our school meal programs, and students deserve easy access to nutritious meals at school.,” Lombardo wrote. “[M]y administration is confident that every student in need can receive free school meals.”

The letter is the latest salvo between Lombardo’s administration and legislative Democrats on an issue that is guaranteed to resurface during next year’s legislative session. The topic is gaining national resonance, especially as Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, touts his work as Minnesota governor to provide universal free school meals. 

In a statement Wednesday, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D-Las Vegas) described the letter as “a lot of words to try to justify an unjustifiable veto.”

“Feeding all kids shouldn’t be a partisan issue yet callous, MAGA [R]epublicans have made it one,” Yeager said in the statement.

Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas), the sponsor of the 2023 bill, and Assemblywoman Shea Backus (D-Las Vegas) submitted a bill draft request earlier this month to bring back the legislation next year. Democrats also held a press conference this month featuring signs accusing the governor of having stolen “our kids’ lunch money.”

Read More: Nevada Democrats set up 2025 fight with Lombardo over free school meals

The vetoed legislation in question is AB319, which passed mostly along party lines in 2023 with all but three Republicans opposed. The bill would have allocated $43 million to provide universal free school meals to K-12 students for the 2024-2025 school year, continuing the meal program offered since the pandemic started through a combination of federal waivers and the state’s federal COVID relief funds.

In his veto message, Lombardo said the bill would contribute to food waste, claiming that up to 73 percent of school meals are thrown away, though that statistic referred to a subcategory of vegetable waste. He also said that it was time for school districts to “return to the normalcy of pre-pandemic operations” — an argument he reiterated in his Wednesday letter.

“Just as I removed the COVID-19 state mandates and ordered state employees back to pre-pandemic office operations, school districts should similarly return to normal school operations,” Lombardo wrote.

A state-by-state analysis by Food Research & Action Center— an organization that advocates for free school meals — found Nevada and Connecticut were the only two states to drop their universal free meal programs after starting them during the pandemic.

During the 2022-23 school year, when the program was in place, 6.5 million school meals were served for free each month to 460,000 students, including 206,000 students who otherwise wouldn't have access to a free meal. This marked a roughly 67 percent increase from the 2019-20 school year, when only 275,830 students had access to free meals.

Research shows school meals are associated with better attendance rates, fewer missed school days and better test scores. Critics have generally raised concerns about the cost — in Minnesota, the estimated cost of the free meals program was pegged at around $480 million for two years.

For the 2024-25 school year, a family of four making between $40,560 to $57,720 a year would qualify for reduced price meals, and a family of four making $40,056 or less would be eligible for free meals. 

Updated at 1:40 p.m. on 8/21/24 to include a statement from Speaker Steve Yeager and updated at 9:50 a.m. on 8/22/24 to clarify when Nevada and Connecticut dropped their universal free meal programs