The number of students eating meals at school declined in 42 states and the District of Columbia during the first year since the expiration of pandemic-era waivers that allowed all students, regardless of family income, to eat for free. But eight states — all of which continued to serve meals for free to all, or used the Community Eligibility Provision to offer free meals at a significant number of schools — bucked the trend and reported increases in participation, according to a new report from the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC).
Overall, just more than 28.1 million children took part in school lunch programs in the 2022-23 school year, nearly 1.8 million fewer than in the previous year. School breakfast participation also dropped — a bit more than 14.3 million students ate breakfast at school in 2022-23, nearly 1.2 million fewer than in the previous year.
“Any loss of participation is alarming,” said Clarissa Hayes, deputy director of FRAC’s child nutrition programs and policy team. “It’s going to take all of us — policymakers, advocates, partners on every level — to come together and reverse this trend.”
After Congress failed to renew the waivers that allowed all students to eat for free in the first years of the pandemic, most schools went back to a three-tiered model in which students pay either nothing, a reduced price, or full price, depending on family income. Hayes said the number of students eating school meals could have declined for a variety of reasons: some families may have struggled with the paperwork required to get free or reduced-price meals, others may have earned too much to qualify, and eating school lunch may have again become stigmatized as something for poorer kids.
But the data suggest a simple way to get more kids eating at school: make meals universally free. Four of the states that reported participation increases — California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont — had implemented a statewide Healthy School Meals for All policy. Pennsylvania, which began serving breakfast for free to all students, saw more students eating breakfast at school.
Nevada was the only state that offered free meals to all students in the 2022-23 school year without seeing an increase in participation. Hayes said there was still some investigation to be done to figure out why but pointed out that the state had experienced declining school enrollment overall.
The other states that had increased participation in school lunch, breakfast, or both took greater advantage of the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows schools in communities with high poverty rates to offer meals for free to all students, according to the report.
While many nutrition and education groups support making school meals free to all public school students in the country, the idea has been a tough sell in Congress. The Biden administration has taken an incremental approach, pledging in 2022 to expand access to free meals to 9 million more students by 2032 by making it easier for schools to qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision. Last year, the USDA made a policy change that will allow 3,000 more schools to offer free meals through the provision.
Momentum for passing universal school meals legislation has been stronger at the state level, Hayes said. Currently, eight states offer free meals to all students — Maine, California, Vermont, and Massachusetts, and also Colorado, Michigan, New Mexico, and Minnesota, which implemented universal meal policies after the end of the 2022-23 school year. In more than 20 other states, there are active campaigns to pass similar legislation, Hayes said.
Schools and districts in other states should look at their demographic data and see if they qualify for the Community Eligibility Provision, Hayes said.
But she stressed the need for federal legislation, such as the Universal School Meals Program Act, reintroduced in May by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, and other Democratic lawmakers.
“We lean really heavily into Healthy School Meals for All,” Hayes said, “because we now know it’s a proven strategy.”