When Congress allowed the temporary, pandemic-era policy permitting nationwide universal school meals to expire in June 2022, most schools had to revert during the 2022-23 school year to charging students for meals if they didn’t fill out a form or qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on their family’s income.
As a result, some states — not wanting to let go of that benefit for students — moved to pass permanent universal school meal programs. At least seven states have since enacted such policies, including California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico and Vermont.
States that have opted for universal school meal programs have also seen an uptick in student participation. For instance, the Food Research & Action Center found that about 234,000 more students ate school lunches in the 2022-23 school year compared to pre-COVID levels in five states that served free school meals that year.
However, with a majority of states returning to pre-pandemic meal policies, a report released Thursday by FRAC demonstrates how the end of nationwide universal school meals negatively impacted students’ daily participation in breakfast and lunch between 2021-22 and 2022-23.
