Portland Public Schools announced this week that all students in the district will have access to free breakfast and lunch at school every day next year. Officials said the change was possible because extended federal licensing requirements and additional state funds Law on Academic Success.
The change means that universal school meals will be available in all three of Oregon’s largest school districts. Beaverton This fall, the free meals and Salem-Keiser already offers it.
But the push to make school meals more accessible is a nationwide effort. In fact, one group wants to make it a top priority in the 2025 legislative session.
School meals for all – which has been around for years but was only formalized last fall – is a coalition of students, school and community leaders, teachers and cafeteria workers, parents, food producers and more than 20 organizations, including the American Heart Association, the Oregon Food Bank and the Oregon Parent Teacher Association.
Their goal is to provide universal school meals to all 550,000 students in Oregon.
“No matter where in the state they live,” coalition leaders wrote on their website, “no child should experience hunger at school.”
The need for free school meals
Coalition officials see the passage of the Student Success Act in 2019 as a turning point for school meals in Oregon.
The law, which imposed a new tax on businesses to invest in a range of school improvements, provided money for things like early learning programs and ensured full funding for graduation and job training initiatives. But according to School Meals for All, the law also made Oregon a leader in fighting hunger and feeding children through school meals.
Shortly after state lawmakers passed the Student Success Act, families got a taste of what universal school meals might look like during pandemic lockdowns, as districts received federal funding to provide free meals to any families who wanted them.
Proponents argue that this lived experience has proven that universal school meal policies are not only extremely popular, but also simple and implementable.
But in the summer of 2022, federal COVID-19 relief funds that paid for these meals ran out when Congress failed to extend the exemption from school mealsSeveral countries have made efforts to close the gap. By the end of last year, around nine states had adopted guidelines for universal school meals and others were considering similar measures.
The students at the Rigler School choose their daily portion of fruit and vegetables at a salad counter.
Phoebe Flanigan / OPB
Oregon came close with Bill 3030although it was not passed. However, the state still made historic investments in Bill 5014 that same spring, helping more individual schools to provide universal school meals.
Now supporters of the School Meals for All program claim that Oregon is lagging behind.
According to the coalition every sixth child There is not enough food nationwide; food insecurity varies by where families live.
The need for healthy and free food has more to do with than just physical health. Studies show that students who receive free or reduced-price meals at school perform better socially and academically. In addition, the provision of universal school meals offers a study published in the American Educational Research Journal, reduced Bullying and prejudice against weaker students and thus also for discipline.
“I noticed that the benefits of introducing a universal school meal system mainly affected students who already received free meals at school,” said Jacki Ward Kehrwald with Partners for an Oregon without hunger about the study.
“This makes it clear that this is not just about who has food,” she said, “it is also about abolishing a segregated system that signals blatant class differences to students, teachers and administrators.”
Coalition pushes for concrete solutions
While Oregon may be lagging behind other states, advocates say closing the gap is within reach.
According to the coalition’s data, 55% of Oregon schools provided school meals to all students through the federal Community Eligibility Program in the 2022-23 school year.
Last school year, that share rose to 71% thanks to a change in federal regulations that expanded eligibility.
The coalition expects that more than 90% of Oregon schools will be able to participate in the coming school year.
To bring this figure to 100%, the coalition is pushing for some Key demands in the 2025 legislative period.
First, they want Oregon lawmakers to implement school meals for all Oregon students and ensure that meals are funded at 100 percent of the federal reimbursement rate.
“We don’t yet have an estimate of what the cost will be to increase the remaining schools and districts to reach the 100 percent mark,” Ward Kehrwald told OPB, “but it’s reasonable to assume we may not need to provide additional funding.”
Ward Kehrwald said funding for this program would come from corporate tax contributions to the Student Success Act and would not compete with other General Fund programs.
Coalition members say what students eat and how much time they have to eat are also important.
The coalition wants state legislators to ensure that school meal increases continue Farm products for school. They also want the government to help schools improve their facilities. Universal free meal programs could increase the number of students receiving meals, and some outdated cafeterias are not designed to meet that demand.
Lunchtime at the Rigler School.
Phoebe Flanigan / OPB
Finally, the coalition wants Oregon lawmakers to set a minimum time to eat. Members said longer lines can result in some students having less than five minutes to eat. Minimum times, they argue, would mean “less food waste, quieter cafeterias, better service and healthier eating habits.”
It is not yet clear whether the coalition will push forward these changes in individual bills or as an overall package in the coming legislative period.
“Part of our motivation is to create a permanent, statewide policy with the certainty that families and students deserve, rather than continuing an opt-in process from year to year,” Ward Kehrwald said.
Further details are expected during the legislative sessions in the fall.
