Rhode Island to expand free school meal access

It’s been busy at the state level when it comes to school nutrition legislation. Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee recently signed the state’s 2025 budget into law which will provide additional free meals to students this fall and a new bill in Pennsylvania would provide new funding for farm-to-school initiatives in the state.

At the federal level, House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee held a markup on its Fiscal Year 2025 Agriculture budget which would earmark 31.749 billion for Child Nutrition Programs.

Here’s what you may have missed in school nutrition legislation.

Rhode Island budget expands free meal access

Rhode Island students who qualify for reduced-price meals will receive free breakfast and lunch at school next year.

Governor Dan McKee signed the state’s FY 2025 $13.9 billion budget into law which earmarks $813,000 to provide the meals.

The state will join Connecticut in provided free meals to students who receive reduced-price meals at school this fall.

See which states currently offer universal free meals via the map below:

House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee holds mark up on FY 2025 budget

The federal House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee held a markup on its FY 2025 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration budget.

The bill would provide $31.749 billion for Child Nutrition Programs. Out of that total, $10 million would be reserved for equipment grants, $3 million would go toward farm-to-school grants, and $4.196 million for USDA Foods’ food safety education.

In addition, the bill would also permit the substitution of any vegetable subgroup for fruits at school breakfast during the next two school years. 

The bill was approved in the subcommittee but is still in its infant stages.

Pennsylvania bill would invest in farm-to-school

A new bill introduced in Pennsylvania would help expand farm-to-school efforts in the state.

The Keystone Fresh Act would establish the Keystone Fresh Program which would provide grant funding to school nutrition programs, local suppliers and more, to expand the amount of local food that ends up on students’ lunch trays.

The state’s Department of Education would oversee the program in partnership with the Department of Agriculture. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Farm-to-school efforts have been growing at both the federal and state level in recent years. Last summer, The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded 103 farm-to-school grants as part of its Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program, reaching an estimated 2,791 schools and more than 1.2 million students.

States have also invested in farm-to-school efforts in recent years. Most recently, lawmakers in Minnesota approved a bill that would put $100,000 toward increasing the amount of local ingredients in school meals and early childhood education centers.