The School Meals for Healthy Kids Act of 2025 makes changes to how schools identify and enroll eligible students in free and reduced-price meal programs. Specifically, the bill allows states to continue using Medicaid enrollment data to automatically certify children for free or reduced meals and breakfasts, cementing a practice that had been operating under temporary demonstration projects starting July 2024. The legislation also locks in the current methodology for calculating eligibility under the Community Eligibility Provision—a federal program that provides free meals to schools with high concentrations of low-income students—by setting the eligibility multiplier at 1.6 and freezing the regulations as they existed when this bill was enacted. These changes primarily affect school districts, students from low-income families, and state education agencies administering meal programs. The bill contains no specific funding amounts or implementation timelines beyond establishing that the Medicaid data provision applies to school years beginning July 1, 2024 and beyond.
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