January 28, 2025
The School Meals for All NC Coalition is working to ensure that every child in every public school in North Carolina has access to school meals at no cost to families.
The U.S. House of Representatives’ Ways and Means Committee is proposing $3 billion in cuts to the federal school breakfast and lunch program, preventing 400,000 North Carolina school children from accessing free and reduced-priced school meals.
Key Points and Impacts:
- Cuts would impact millions: Over 24,000 schools nationwide, serving more than 12 million children, would no longer qualify. In North Carolina alone, 794 schools and 408,887 students would lose access to no-cost meals.
- Raises eligibility threshold: Proposed legislation increasing the eligibility threshold from 25% to 60% would disqualify hundreds of NC schools.
- Increased hunger and stigma: These changes would increase hunger in classrooms, reintroduce unnecessary paperwork, bring back stigma for free and reduced-price meals, and cause a resurgence of school meal debt.
- Burden on families: New documentation requirements would potentially prevent eligible children from receiving meals.
- Threat to progress in NC: North Carolina’s Meal Incentive Program has expanded school meal participation statewide, helping more NC schools provide no-cost meals. The proposed federal cuts would undermine these state efforts and harm students who rely on free school meals.
Why It Matters:
Ensuring students are well-nourished supports their health, learning, and our nation’s future. School meal participation has grown over the past decade, but financial barriers still prevent many eligible schools from enrolling. Instead of limiting school meal programs, Congress should strengthen and expand it.
We must protect and expand school nutrition programs to ensure every child has access to the nutritious meals they need to thrive. Contact your members of Congress and ask them to reject these harmful cuts and prioritize the health and learning of our children.