MADISON, Wis. – Last week’s top story concluded with this line: “Children belong to parents, after all–not to the state.” Here’s more proof parents believe that deeply:

Rich and poor parents alike are complaining that Los Angeles schools are taking over their job of feeding their kids, at the expense of educating.

It’s all “thanks” to a new federal program that hands every child in poorer school districts both breakfast and lunch at taxpayer expense. These parents say they want to control what their kids eat, and they take pride in doing so. They also object to using what should be learning time for eating instead.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

Now, schools taking over kids’ nutrition is one thing. “Full-service schools” are another, farther down the same road. A local foundation has given the Madison, Wisconsin school district a $300,000 grant to initiate four “full-service schools,” which not only feed children breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner, but provide extensive after-school activities, health care including checkups and dentistry, and weekend and summer childcare.

At that point, it’s more accurate to call these institutions “orphanages” than “schools.” At most, parents will check their own kids out for a few hours at a time like people check electronics out of libraries. The new orphanages are not coming only to Madison–they’re popping up all across the country. Of course, federal money is involved:

The U.S. Department of Education also offers millions of dollars in grants to nine organizations in six states that operate such schools.

There are about 5,000 such schools nationally and internationally, though the exact number is difficult to pinpoint because of the variety of ways a school can offer the model, according to the Coalition for Community Schools.

Now, some children certainly need new homes. That’s why we have a foster-care system that, although it could itself use reform, at least places needy children in families instead of impersonal “centers.” But these children and their situations deserve to be addressed directly and honestly instead of covertly through government programs that degrade parenting by causing some parents to think their own children are not their responsibility. We need more encouragement for people to govern their own affairs, such as parents are demanding in Los Angeles, not more encouragement for people to evade their rights and duties, as in Madison.

SOURCES: Associated Press, Madison Capitol Times, Portage Daily Register

Authored by Joy Pullmann

Published with permission