SOFSA director, Maura Ackerman, attended the Governor’s State of the State press conference in Long Island on January 10th.
On January 10th, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that universal free school meals will be included in the FY2026 executive budget. If the State budget is approved, all 2.7 million students in New York State will be offered free breakfast and lunch every school day.
By implementing universal free school meals, New York State seeks to alleviate food insecurity amongst children and offer significant financial relief to families. Families will save approximately $165 per child each month in grocery expenses. This would provide a significant relief to families as living costs continue to rise.
In Onondaga County, 21% of children live below the poverty line. Of the districts in Onondaga County, only 15 out of 18 offer free breakfast and lunch to all students. Now, Fayetteville-Manlius, Marcellus, and Skaneateles school districts will be able to offer free breakfast and lunch to their students. While at first glance it might seem that these districts don’t need it, these are precisely the schools where stigma around who does and does not have access to lunch are most palpable. Universal free school meals would level the playing field, allowing breakfast and lunch time to be sites of nourishment and not judgement.
Governor Hochul’s push for full universal school meal coverage builds on prior state initiatives. In the FY2025 budget, $180 million was allocated to schools throughout the state to encourage them to participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision program (CEP). CEP is a federal provision that allows high-poverty schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. While CEP has been instrumental in addressing food insecurity, its reliance on federal funding makes it vulnerable to political fluctuations and budget cuts. With full state funding for universal school meals, districts will no longer have to rely on the CEP program, allowing schools to have more security into the future.
This budget allocation would not have been possible without the steadfast organizing of the Healthy School Meals for All coalition. Co-led by Hunger Solutions New York and Community Food Advocates, the coalition has been pushing for NYS to establish and permanently fund a healthy universal school meal program. Since 2022, the coalition has helped to secure state funding to provide free school meals to more than 380,000 students in 1,400 schools in NYS. This new budget would close the gap for the 280,000 students not already covered. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie, and our legislative champions Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas have been pushing this issue from the inside, helping it get this far.
On March 11th, the New York State Senate Majority released their One-House Budget Resolution, a response to the Governor’s executive budget. The One-House Budget Resolution accepts Hochul’s proposal for universal free school meals and also proposes an amendment to also expand the farm-to-school program. The State Senate urges for an expansion of farm-to-school in breakfast and snack program purchases. This expansion would allow students to gain access to fresh locally-grown fruits and vegetables during breakfast and snack times, as well as grant farmers greater opportunities for schools to purchase their product.
Governor Hochul’s proposal signifies a transformative step toward ensuring that every child in New York has the proper nutrition in order to thrive academically. If the budget is approved, the next focus will be on implementing this program effectively to maximize its benefits for students and families alike.