To amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 and the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to eliminate reduced price breakfasts and lunches and to require that the income guidelines for determining eligibility for free breakfasts and free lunches be 200 percent of the poverty level, and for other purposes.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · May 5, 2023
Referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
This bill would expand access to free school meals by eliminating the reduced-price meal option for both breakfast and lunch, and by raising the income threshold for free meal eligibility from 130 percent to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The legislation would also allow schools to automatically enroll children in free meals if they receive Medicaid benefits, without requiring families to submit separate applications. Additionally, the bill permits schools to retroactively adjust meal reimbursement claims when children are newly determined eligible for free meals, and increases the multiplier used in the Community Eligibility Program, which allows schools in high-poverty areas to provide free meals to all students. These changes would take effect beginning with the 2023-2024 school year and would affect millions of schoolchildren across the United States, particularly those from low-income families.
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