Many children will continue to struggle without permanent funding for Ka Ora, Ka
Ako, the Healthy School Lunch Programme, says Health Coalition Aotearoa (HCA).
Budget 2026 provides $212.4 million to extend the current school and ECE lunches
programmes for another calendar year, which HCA says does not go far enough.
“The Child Poverty Report released as part of today’s Budget shows the number of
kids living in material hardship is unchanged at 14.3 percent with no chance of
meeting legislative targets,” says Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Professor Boyd
Swinburn from Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.
Health Coalition Aotearoa is calling for permanent funding for a ‘3.0 version’ of the
programme, combining the best features of the original Ka Ora Ka Ako model and
the current low-cost model.
Permanent funding enshrined in law would allow both local providers and children
to thrive.
Health Coalition Aotearoa estimates that only about 40 percent of children living in
food-insecure households are now receiving free school lunches and this level needs
to be increased urgently.
“It is good that the Healthy School Lunch programme has not been stopped
because it is a powerful tool for improving food security, child nutrition and
educational outcomes,” Swinburn says.
“Kicking the can down the road on permanent funding is bad news for schools and
food providers. Not investing in the programme for the long-term means that the
programme’s full potential cannot be realised.”
Some schools are keen to innovate by linking the lunch programme with the
curriculum or local growers but this is stifled by the uncertainty created by year-by-
year funding. Similarly, some efficiencies which could come from investing in
upgraded equipment or regional industrial-scale composting will only come with
long term programme certainty.
Professor Lisa Te Morenga (Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, Te Uri o Hua, Ngāpuhi and Te
Rarawa), Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair and professor of Māori health and
nutrition at Massey University says that, while it is positive the Government is
extending the school lunch programme, it is a mean and cynical offering.
“The lunches are so bad that tamariki say it’s embarrassing to be seen to be
desperate enough to eat them,” Te Morenga says. “Yet, bad as they are, plenty of
students are asking, in private, at the end of the school day, to take the leftovers
home.
“I just wish this government would treat our tamariki with the dignity and care that
they deserve. You don’t grow an economy by starving its future workers.”
Dr Kelly Garton, an HCA spokesperson, says Associate Education Minister David
Seymour’s claim of saving $122 million through the cut-price lunches ignores the
evidence of far greater savings over time through investing in children’s nutrition.
“What this really means, is that we, our kids, our society, miss out on a benefit
three to six times that size if a programme is invested in properly.
“A cost-benefit analysis has not – and should be – done here, but international
evidence shows it should be scaled up to reach 50 percent or ideally 100 percent of
public-school children.”
Hunger poses a significant threat to educational achievement, Dr Garton says.
“An analysis found that students in Aotearoa who go hungry due to lack of money,
even just once a week, are two to four years behind in their achievement scores
compared to students who never go hungry.”
The lunches need to be more nutritious, appealing and larger for growing children
and teens, the co-chairs say.
