Seattle Public Schools celebrates expansion of universal free school meals
Also in this week’s K-12 legislative update: Pennsylvania students will continue to receive free school breakfast this school year, and Minnesota’s universal free school meals program marks another milestone.
As students return to class, universal free school meals are in the spotlight at the state level. Seattle Public Schools is celebrating the expansion of its universal free school meals program this school year, Pennsylvania students will continue to receive free school breakfast this school year, and Minnesota’s universal free school meals program just marked another milestone since it began three years ago.
Here’s the latest in school nutrition legislation and regulation.
Seattle Public Schools celebrates universal free school meals
All Seattle Public Schools students will receive free breakfast and lunch each day at school this school year.
The city of Seattle is covering the cost for the meals. Prior to the current school year, around half of the schools in the district offered universal free school meals through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a federal program that allows participating schools and districts with a high level of low-income students to serve meals to all students for free, regardless of their family income.
Other large school districts like New York Public Schools also provide school breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students.
Pennsylvania students continue to receive free school breakfast this school year
Pennsylvania students are once again receiving free school breakfast this school year. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro included funding for the meals in the state’s signed 2026-27 budget.
This school year, 1.7 million students in the state will receive free school breakfast thanks to the program.
The state has offered free breakfast to students since 2022 and has seen increased school breakfast participation since the program’s inception. During the 2024-25 school year, Pennsylvania schools served just under 93 million breakfasts to students, representing 13.8% increase over two years.
Minnesota's celebrates new universal free school meals milestone
Minnesota’s universal free school meals program just marked another milestone. The program has served over 450 million meals to students since the program was launched three years ago, according to KTTC.
The state has seen an increase in school meal participation since adopting the program. Schools in other states that have introduced universal free meals have also seen meal participation numbers increase, and a survey of school nutrition directors by the School Nutrition Association revealed that 87.4% of respondents reported an increase in school meal participation after adopting free meal service.
