Dive Brief:

• A significantly lower percentage of public schools participated in school meals programs in fall 2022 than in March 2022 when universal school meal waivers were still in place, according to the latest School Pulse Panel survey results from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.

• The percentage of participating schools fell from 94% in March 2022 to 88% in October. The share of public schools reporting more than half of their students getting school meals dropped even further, from 84% in March 2022 to 69% in October. 

• The most common challenges schools cited in raising participation included convincing parents to submit applications for free and reduced-price meals (34%), food service staffing shortages (32%), and increased program costs (29%). 

Dive Insight:

Data released in September by USDA's Economic Research Service shows food insecurity rates among children across races and ethnicities dropped between 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic — a time when all children were eligible for free school meals because of the waivers Congress put into place.

This is despite preliminary data from the USDA showing school meal participation also dropped during the first full year of the pandemic, with schools serving 2.2 billion fewer meals than before. The Food Research and Action Center attributed decreased participation rates to supply chain disruptions, staffing limitations, additional transportation needs, and limited access to meal sites. 

In this time of pervasive supply chain woes, school food service programs continue to be affected: A majority of schools reported supply-chain disruptions affecting cafeteria services in the most recent NCES data. In fact, schools said the most negative impact on procurement came in food services, exceeding disruptions in obtaining equipment such as laptops and furniture.

NCES is looking into what drove the drop in the percentage of schools and students participating in the school meals program, according to Rachel Hansen, a statistician for the agency's sample surveys division and the project director for the School Pulse Panel.

Nodding to the pandemic-era universal free schools waiver, Hansen said,"we're not sure if that is contributing to this at all. But this is something that we are working with our colleagues over at USDA [the U.S. Department of Agriculture] to figure out." 

The percentage of schools reporting school meal participation is also lower than in a typical, pre-pandemic year. In 2017-19, for example, 96% of schools said they were participating in the program.

Prior to the universal school meals expiration, child nutrition advocates and many educators urged a continuation of the program. Though that did not happen, advocates have continued to push for Congress to make permanent a provision to allow all schools to offer and all children to get free school meals. The waiver was adopted in response to COVID-19 school closures and the economic fallout from the health crisis. 

Around the same time, a task force of professors, advocates and food industry leaders advised the White House to revive the program. The White House later announced it plans to expand free school meals to 9 million additional children by 2032, in what would be a first step toward universal school meals.

The School Pulse Panel data is experimental — meaning it uses new data sources or methodologies and may not meet all NCES quality standards. However, the periodic surveys, which began during COVID-19, give a glimpse into how the pandemic has impacted school operations and leadership.