Holding signs naming cities across the country that have already enacted universal free school lunch, politicians, parents, students and advocates held a press conference outside City Hall on May 28 to encourage Mayor Bill de Blasio to include funding for universal free school lunch in the final city budget due by July 1.

UFT Vice President for Middle Schools Richard Mantell spoke of his experience as the lunchroom coordinator at IS 68 in Canarsie, where he said he saw many students eligible for free school lunch choose not to eat rather than face the stigma attached to the program.

Making free school lunch universal, he said, is a “no-brainer” that would eliminate that stigma.

“Hungry kids are just not going to perform well in school,” Mantell said.

The press conference took place before the City Council’s final budget hearing on school spending.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, a leader in the campaign, said that the growth in poverty in the city has made passage of universal free school lunch more urgent than ever.

“As poverty and income inequality threaten more and more families in New York City, too many of our children are attending school on an empty stomach — hungry, distracted and unable to focus on their education,” she said.

Fully one-third of the 780,000 students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch do not participate in the program. But Mark-Viverito said the problem also extends to those families who make too much money to qualify for the program but still struggle to pay for their children’s lunches.

Cities as diverse as Boston, Chicago, Dallas and Detroit have all implemented universal free school lunch or will implement it in the coming school year.

Student Benia Darius, from the Bushwick Campus Youth Food Council, said making a free school lunch available to all students was a simple question of fairness. “Eating is a right,” she said. “Food is a cornerstone of a productive day.”