Free School Lunch: Overview

Introduction

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a US federal government program that funds and sets standards for free and reduced-cost lunches for students. It is administered by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service. The program applies to most public and nonprofit private schools as well as residential childcare settings. Established in 1946 by President Harry S. Truman, it has grown to feed at least one meal per day to more than 30 million children.

To be eligible for federal funding, the meals must contain at least one-third of the calories and key nutrients recommended for a day. No more than 30 percent of those calories can come from fat, and no more than 10 percent can come from saturated fat. The meal must also meet standards for the inclusion of whole grains, fruit, and vegetables. All students in participating schools can purchase lunches that meet these standards.

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), administered by the US Department of Agriculture, establishes nationwide eligibility criteria for free and reduced-price school meals. Children from households with incomes at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level, or those participating in certain federal assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), qualify for free lunches. Families with incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced-price lunches. These income thresholds are set annually. Children who meet these criteria also qualify for the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides free meals and snacks to eligible children when school is not in session, often through “open” sites that serve all children in low-income areas. Funding for these programs is provided through federal reimbursements to schools, administered by state agencies, and may be supplemented by US Department of Agriculture commodity food donations that help redistribute surplus agricultural products.

Supporters say the program helps fight childhood hunger, improves the overall health of school children, and helps them be better prepared to learn. However, critics point out that the program stigmatizes the children who receive it and is costly to taxpayers. They also claim that it results in food waste because children have limited choices. In addition, critics claim that foods that are cost-effective to provide in large quantities are not always the healthiest options, adding to the risk of childhood obesity.

Understanding the Discussion

Community Eligibility Provision (CEP): A US Department of Agriculture program that uses community-level poverty data to reimburse school districts in very-low-income areas for school breakfast and meals, which are made available to all of their students.

Direct certification: A method that states and local educational agencies (LEAs) use to determine individual students' eligibility for free school meals based on their household finances.

Let’s Move: A government program begun in 2007, directed by then First Lady Michelle Obama, that sought to eliminate childhood obesity by improving the nutrition of public school meals and encouraging a more active lifestyle among children and adolescents.

Lunch shaming: School actions that may humiliate students who have meal debt, including refusal to serve meals, the use of identifying markers, or work requirements in exchange for meals.

Meal debt: A term referring to charges accrued when students who do not qualify for free meals lack the financial means to pay for the school meals they eat.

Subsidy: A government payment, credit, or other incentive to an industry to produce an economic benefit for society.

History

During the second half of the nineteenth century, many groups began to focus on the needs of low-income children in the US. They recognized that children could not grow and learn without sufficient nutrition. Public programs to help provide food for these children began in several larger cities later in the 1800s. More cities added programs throughout the early 1900s, but the efforts were scattered and often underfunded. At times, local religious or charitable organizations prepared basic lunches for children.

Public schools did not offer meals, however. Commercial refrigeration did not exist, and schools lacked suitable kitchens for serving the entire school. Instead, students brought simple lunches, went home for lunch, or started classes early enough to leave for the day by noon.

The first federal funds to support student lunches came in 1932. Government loans were given to schools in southwestern Missouri to pay staff to prepare the lunches. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, this program was expanded to other schools until it provided funds to pay for more than 7,400 lunchroom workers in thirty-nine states. As the Great Depression continued, the federal government created a program through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that helped farmers and schoolchildren. It purchased excess food crops and commodities from struggling farmers and provided them to schools to be used in lunch programs. By 1941, these programs were expanded to every state as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. They hired more than 64,000 people in about 23,000 schools to prepare at least two million lunches each day.

After the US entered World War II in 1941, the need to feed troops fighting overseas cut into the food commodities available for the WPA. Congress responded in 1943 by authorizing $60 million for subsidies to schools to purchase and serve milk and meals to students. Similar authorizations were extended over the next few years and included rules about the kind of food that could be served, setting allowable amounts of salt, fat, and sugar, and dictating what vitamins to provide. They also set limitations on the cost of school lunches. However, Congress recognized that approving the program from year to year was inefficient and created uncertainty for school districts, which made planning difficult. The Seventy-Ninth Congress proposed a permanent school lunch bill, Public Law 396, which was approved and signed into law by President Truman on June 4, 1946. He noted that the program would benefit both US farmers and schoolchildren, emphasizing the importance of each to the country’s future success.

The first year after it was authorized, the NSLP provided resources to feed more than 7 million children. However, the program at first was more beneficial to farmers than children, providing a means to dispense with surplus grains and produce following the war's end. As soldiers returned from the war and started families, people campaigned for the expansion of the program to meet the growing Baby Boom and more directly enhance students' diet, which was assumed to be developed and maintained at home. School meals were designed to be familiar foods, seasoned to be palatable for the majority. Major funding increases were made during the presidencies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard M. Nixon. In 1966, the Child Nutrition Act added funds to subsidize more meals for low-income children. It also added funding for milk and breakfast.

During and following Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980s, efforts to curb the federal budget reduced funding for school lunches and lowered nutritional standards. The administration sought to reclassify condiments, such as ketchup and relish, as vegetables to meet the program's vegetable requirement, but met stiff resistance from the public.

With the rise of two-parent employment and single parenting, the school meal program added breakfast in the mid-1980s and then provided after-school snacks for so-called latch-key children. Beginning in the early 2000s, a summer lunch program ensured children from impoverished families met nutritional standards even when school was not in session.

In 2010, under the Barack Obama administration, efforts were made to reverse the growing childhood obesity trend with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA). This act increased funding and nutritional standards by requiring schools to include more fruit, vegetables, and whole grains, which were unfamiliar to many schoolchildren at the time. It also cut sugary snacks and drinks, junk food items, rich sauces and gravies used to marinate meats and fish, and salty, high-fat, high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods such as pizza and fries; reduced portion sizes; and minimized dairy products and starchy foods, such as white bread and pasta. Critics claimed this resulted in wasted food, left students hungry because they would not eat the nutritious food, and constituted moralizing government overreach. Some reported that more students were bringing their lunches, skipping meals, or opting instead for off-campus fast-food eateries. Another common argument against the more stringent standards was that moderation and awareness, not sacrifice, were more effective approaches to eating well. Advocates countered that changing the established appetites and behaviors of millions of schoolchildren would take time.

In 2018, the Donald Trump administration eased the HHFKA restrictions on grains, low-fat flavored milks, and salt in school meals and, two years later, proposed additional cuts to the vegetable serving requirement. However, a federal district court reversed the 2018 change in early 2020. The 2020 proposal was not implemented, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the closure of schools around the country.

By then, schools had found ways to make meals more appealing to children and instituted educational programs to help children learn the importance of eating nutritiously. Research found that the diets of NLSP participants had improved in quality, the risk of childhood obesity among the poorest had fallen, program participation and revenues had grown, and food waste did not increase. The NSLP had grown to feed billions of free or reduced-cost meals—often both breakfast and lunch. In fiscal year 2024, the NSLP provided more than 4.8 billion lunches at a total cost of $17.7 billion.

Free School Lunch Today

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the USDA temporarily waived eligibility requirements for free school meals. A 2021 YouGov poll indicated widespread public support among American adults for universal free school meals. However, funding for those additional meals dried up by the end of the 2021-22 academic year. By late 2023, nine state governments had instituted permanent programs in light of the successes of the federal expansion, employing a variety of funding models to cover the cost. Advocates of universal free school meals argue that they are democratizing and thus reduce lunch shaming and increase participation.

In the fall of 2023, the USDA lowered the threshold for Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) designation, meaning that it would make school meals free in areas where just one in four low-income families received government assistance, down from two in five. One difficulty in implementation, however, was that completed meal application forms were tied to poverty data collection and thus the allocation and distribution of school funding. Congressional Republicans objected, too, arguing the cost was too high and calling instead for targeted spending to aid those in greatest need.

The federal government sought to increase access to summer meals by instituting a summer EBT program, which would provide a small amount of money directly to eligible families each summer month to purchase groceries. Proponents noted that getting to centralized summer lunch programs proved difficult for many working families, while critics expressed concern over considerations such as program administrators' inability to check up on students' well-being during the break.

In early 2024, the federal government also set stricter salt and sugar limits for school meals, reinvigorating the debate over whether more nutritious school meals would be feasible, cost-effective, and consumed by students. By fiscal year 2024, the NSLP served more than 4.8 billion lunches at a cost of approximately $17.7 billion, reaching nearly 30 million students per school day, including over 20 million free lunches and almost 1 million reduced-price meals.

In January 2025, the House Budget Committee Chairman proposed $12 billion in federal cuts to the NSLP and School Breakfast Program as part of budget reconciliation measures. The proposal would significantly reduce the number of schools eligible for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a federal option allowing high-poverty schools to serve breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge without collecting individual applications. Under the existing rules, schools qualify if at least 25 percent of enrolled students participate in other means-tested programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The plan would raise the eligibility threshold to 60 percent, rendering more than 24,000 schools—serving over 12 million students—ineligible to participate.

Critics argue that the change would increase hunger in schools, reintroduce meal debt and paperwork burdens for families and administrators, and revive stigma associated with free meal programs. The proposal also includes a new requirement for all families in non-CEP schools applying for free or reduced-price meals to provide income documentation, a measure expected to reduce program costs by an additional $9 billion, but potentially limiting access for eligible children. Opponents contend that the plan would undermine recent progress in expanding CEP participation and jeopardize the health and academic performance of low-income students, particularly in states with high numbers of affected schools such as California, Florida, and Kentucky.

These essays and any opinions, information, or representations contained therein are the creation of the particular author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of EBSCO Information Services.

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