Handful of states keep universal free student meals

Options for reservation schools include USDA programs

A handful of states have opted to keep state universal free-for-all student meals, at least for now.

Meanwhile, many Native American students in Montana, among other states, rely on federal U.S. Department of Agriculture programs, which offer free breakfast, lunch and after-school snacks to entire school districts that qualify.

Students in at least nine states can eat breakfast and lunch for free – which Chalkbeat, an education news website, called a noteworthy shift in approach because no state did so before the pandemic.

So far, the states reportedly making universal school breakfasts and lunches permanently free to all students – regardless of income – include Minnesota, New Mexico, Colorado, Vermont, Michigan, Massachusetts, California and Maine, according to the Associated Press.

Several other states are considering similar universal program changes. Congressional supporters want to extend free meals to all kids nationwide.

A ninth state, Nevada, will use federal COVID relief funds to offer free meals on a temporary basis again this year.

The U.S. federal government offered free meals to all children during the pandemic, but the program expired in 2022.

The Ronan School District in Western Montana, located on the Flathead Reservation, offers free USDA-sponsored breakfasts, lunch and after-school snacks to all its 1,470 students. The district is a Montana public school district and is not run by the tribe or the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

About 60 percent of the families in the four-school district already qualify as low-income for the Community Eligibility Program, according to Superintendent Mark Johnston.

“We have a high enough number of our students living below the federal poverty level that all students in the district receive free breakfast and lunch,” he said.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service posts eligibility formulas each school year on its website. The guidelines are intended to help children most in need. Any student in a participating school can get a National School Lunch Program lunch. Students from households with incomes at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line qualify for free lunch; family incomes between 130 and 185 percent can receive a reduced-price lunch.

“That puts us at about the 96th percentile,” said Marsha Wartick, who recently started her 24th year as food service supervisor for the Ronan School District. “Everything is free for the whole district – breakfast, lunch and after-school snacks. So no family pays for those meals.

“On most days, we’re feeding about 50 percent of our high school, which is very high. We have kind of a different reservation here. Our population is mostly mixed and about 65 percent Native – low compared to other reservation schools in Montana.”

Only about half of the Ronan High School students take advantage of free lunches for several reasons: an ongoing stigma among peers and access to off-campus, fast-food restaurants during the lunch hour.

Wartick said during the school year, her district staff feeds breakfast to up to 750 students per day and lunch to as many as 1,200 daily.

Ronan Food Service doors remain open throughout the summer months, too, when kids and parents can stop by for a meal that the USDA Summer Food Service Program provides. The district served about 6,000 meals last summer alone.

“Any child who comes in here can get a free meal,” she said. “They can be visiting from Spain or if they’re visiting grandma, they can get a free meal, no questions asked.”

During the two-year COVID pandemic stretch – when federal pandemic monies provided nationwide meals to students – the Ronan School District served 54,000 meals from 2020-2021.

“It was insane,” Wartick added.

But when federal pandemic aid ran out in Spring 2022, most states reverted to free or discounted meals only for kids who qualified, reported the Associated Press. In turn, families were deemed ineligible for not being poor enough and some students were stigmatized for qualifying.

In New Mexico, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed into law the Healthy Hunger-Free Students Bill of Rights Act – the new permanent universal breakfast and lunch bill – last March. Even before the law’s passage, most students in the state were already eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

Still, Albuquerque Public Schools reported a 1,000 students-per-day increase for breakfast and lunch right away.

“Today, New Mexico is leading the nation by not only providing free healthy school meals to every student in our state, but we’re also making sure those meals are nutritious foods that kids want to eat,” said Grisham.

In Minnesota, St. Paul Public Schools reports that the district can offer universal meals at 60 schools this year, an increase of 20 from last year.

“You can just come to school and focus on learning,” said Stacy Koppen, director of nutrition services for St. Paul Public Schools.

Chalkbeat National Editor Matt Barnum told National Public Radio that while the universal funding typically stems from state or local dollars, the price is “not a huge cost, but not trivial, either.”

Barnum said it will be interesting to see if states continue the program when budgets tighten or an economic downturn occurs. He characterized the universal program as “a bit of a partisan issue,” as the nine states that have continued it are blue-leaning states.

Arguments against it are cost worries and a perceived “giveaway to middle or wealthier families,” he added. However, universal meals can benefit lower-income families who did not complete updated paperwork or whose income boosted them slightly above the qualifying threshold for a year.