Congressional belt-tightening could make it harder for schools to serve free school meals to all students, leaving some children without critical nutrition, straining families’ already stretched food budgets, and further burdening struggling nutrition programs, anti-hunger groups warn.
More than 12 million children could lose access to federally subsidized free school meals if Congress tightens eligibility requirements for the community eligibility provision, which allows schools to serve free meals to all students, researchers at the Food Research & Action Center and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found in a new analysis.
“We have a need in our community,” said Shannon Gleave, nutrition director at the Glendale, Ariz., elementary school district and president of the School Nutrition Association. “And I am proud that we’re able to serve as many meals as we can. I just don’t want children to have to go without food. That’s my No. 1 concern. Some of these meals are the only meals they get.”
Through community eligibility, schools can serve federally subsidized free lunches and breakfasts without requiring individual student qualification for the programs. Under the current rule, schools can sign up for community eligibility if 25 percent of their students automatically qualify for free school meals by participating in qualifying federal assistance programs, like Medicaid or SNAP benefits.
The Biden administration lowered that eligibility threshold from 40 percent in 2024, allowing more schools to participate. Now, some congressional Republicans want to raise the threshold to 60 percent, which would remove about half of participating schools, the new analysis finds.
The proposal comes as the Trump administration abruptly canceled the $660 million Local Food For Schools program, which helped schools purchase locally grown produce for student nutrition programs.
Raising the community eligibility threshold was included on a list of cost-cutting measures proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, under the budget reconciliation process, in which both chambers of the Republican-controlled Congress are negotiating sweeping federal spending cuts. Separately, Congress is working on a short-term funding plan to avert a government shutdown.
Arrington’s proposal estimates the tightened requirements for community eligibility could save $3 billion over 10 years. He also proposed requiring all schools to verify the income of every student who applies for free- and reduced-price meals, which would save an estimated $9 million over a decade, his proposal said.
‘Not just a school nutrition issue’
Currently, districts must verify the income of a random selection of 3 percent of families, said Susan Maffe, nutrition director for Meriden, Conn., Public Schools, to spot check that families aren’t in the program when they shouldn’t be. Verifying all applicants will be a huge burden, she said.
“That’s an excessive amount of paperwork to prove the integrity of your program,” Maffe said.
The double hit of raising the community eligibility threshold and dramatically increasing income-verification requirements would overwhelm district food programs, which already operate on tight budgets with limited staff, Gleave said.
Additional paperwork will also likely confuse parents, she said. When a pandemic-era universal meal rule expired, many districts struggled to inform families they needed to apply for free school lunches and breakfasts or pay for those meals themselves. School meal debt soared, and Gleave is worried the situation will repeat itself.
“It is a huge time commitment,” she said. “And I’m considered a small school district with 8,900 students.”
In response, elementary school principals, pediatricians, and school nutrition directors have visited members of Congress in recent weeks, urging them to leave school meal requirements out of budget talks.
“When communities experience the benefit of offering everyone free school meals, they don’t want to lose that benefit,” said Erin Hysom, senior child nutrition policy analyst at the Food Research & Action Center.
Schools that have started serving universal free meals reported better student engagement, lower discipline rates, and fewer visits to the nurse’s office, she said. A sudden policy shift would financially burden families already struggling with rising food prices, a key issue in ongoing political debates, Hysom said.
“This is not just a school nutrition issue,” she said. “This is about entire communities that would be affected by these cuts.”
Cuts would affect schools nationwide
To highlight the impact, FRAC and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released state-by-state data showing how many schools and students in each district would lose free meals through community eligibility under the proposed changes.
Eight states have their own universal free school meal policies, requiring eligible schools to first apply for community eligibility before using state funds for those schools that don’t qualify. If schools in those states lose eligibility, their states would have to fill the gap, potentially straining already overburdened budgets.
State-level programs are already struggling with high costs. In Colorado lawmakers are exploring ways to patch a $50 million deficit in a program that has provided universal free school meals since 2022. That shortfall came in part because lawmakers underestimated the cost of the $130 million program, Colorado Politics reported.
Republicans argue that community eligibility has been offered to too many schools, providing free meals to students whose families could otherwise afford them. Project 2025, the conservative policy agenda that became a flashpoint in the presidential campaign, suggests eliminating the rule altogether.
Meanwhile, proposed cuts in other agencies could also affect school meal programs, said Zoë Neuberger, senior policy analyst at CBPP. Congressional Republicans floated cuts to Medicaid and SNAP as part of the reconciliation process, potentially restricting eligibility for those programs.
Families who lose eligibility for those programs would also lose the automatic qualification for free school meals that comes with them, Neuberger said. That could threaten meal access for their children and potentially contribute to fewer schools meeting the community eligibility threshold, affecting countless more students.
“These cuts would have ripple effects for school meals,” Neuberger said.
