The Anchorage School Board has approved a plan to expand its after school meal service to at-risk kids.
Five schools served meals to kids at its after-school programs last year, and this year that number will expand to 12.
The move wouldn't cost the school district money, despite the program's half-million dollar price tag, because the federal government would pay back all the money to fund the expansion.
School board member and State Senate candidate Don Smith was alone in opposing the measure, saying the school district shouldn't be relying on the federal government.
"It's federal money -- it's Uncle Sugar's money -- we are just going to spend half a million, $560,000 of the federal government's money to feed a whole lot of kids who probably don't need to be fed," Smith said.
Most of the school board members said an expansion would be worth it.
"If means providing an after school snack to kids who are already at risk who don't have maybe the best environment to go home to after school and get a meal, then that's what we need to do if we have those funds available," said School Board President Jeannie Mackie.
Even though six of the seven school board members approved the expansion of the boxed meal program, not everyone was behind the idea wholeheartedly. Some board members questioned why the after-school meals weren't healthier.
