As governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz made school breakfast and lunch free for all students, regardless of income. Author Michael Pollan, writing in a guest column for the Washington Post, explains why Vice President Kamala Harris, if elected president, should expand this effort to what’s known as school-supported agriculture: 

 Today, nearly 70 percent of the calories they consume consists of ultra-processed foods, which have been linked to weight gain and chronic diseases, including diabetes. School-supported agriculture would replace the frozen pizzas and chicken nuggets on school menus with nutritious food cooked in the cafeteria by human beings. It would also remove the lock that a small handful of food-processing corporations have on the market for school food. Cutting them out would enable farmers to reap a larger share of our food dollars and keep the money in their communities, providing a badly needed boost to rural America.

Time is running out to obligate ARPA funds

The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act included $350 billion to help state and local governments rebuild and sustain public services. But State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds must be obligated by December 31, or they’re required to be sent back to the federal government. Governing entities don’t have to actually spend the funds until the end of 2026. The Economic Policy Institute’s Dave Kamper and Emma Cohn explain:

Additionally, some states, cities, and counties may be mistakenly reporting items obligated that are, in fact, only budgeted. Obligation means “an order placed for property and services and entering into contracts, subawards, and similar transactions that require payment.” That is to say, obligating funds requires taking specific steps to ensure the money is used as intended, and that those decisions are memorialized in a contract or subaward or some other documented fashion. Passing a budget that allocates SLFRF to a specific purpose—on its own—is insufficient to constitute obligation. 

Louisiana has obligated 81.4% of its fund and spent 54.8%. 


Reversing brain drain with remote workers

Many areas of the country, particularly Louisiana, are experiencing a brain drain of young educated professionals. The New York Times’ Emma Goldberg reports on the benefits of a program in Tulsa, Oklahoma that pays remote workers to move to the city: 

Their research, released this month, surveyed 1,248 people — including 411 who had participated in Tulsa Remote and others who were accepted but didn’t move or weren’t accepted but had applied to the program — and found that remote workers who moved to Tulsa saved an average of $25,000 more on annual housing costs than the group that was chosen but didn’t move. The relocations were also a boon for the State of Oklahoma and the City of Tulsa, bringing in some $14.9 million in annual income tax revenue and $5.8 million in sales taxes from the remote workers, the researchers estimated.

Child support payments should go to families

Federal child support payments help families afford basic necessities, such as food, clothing and housing. But many of these funds don’t reach parents because they’re kept by federal and state governments as “cost recovery” for cash payments from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. A new policy brief from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities lays out steps that states can take to stop this:

Although federal legislation is needed to completely end cost recovery, states have authority, through a combination of federal options, to pay collected support, including both current and past-due support, to current and former TANF families. There is momentum among states to expand policies that direct child support to families. To date, more than half of states have elected to pay families at least some of the child support payments instead of keeping them as state revenues. States interested in adopting policies that pay more support to families have a number of policy choices to consider and different pathways to expand payments over time. 

Number of the Day

80% – Percentage share of the U.S. stock market value that is owned by the richest 10% of households. (Source: Associated Press)