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3/18/2025
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Healthy School Meals for All Act backed by coalition of community groups
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 STATE HOUSE – Rep. Justine Caldwell and Sen. Lammis J. Vargas were joined today by a broad coalition of advocates to call for the passage of their Healthy School Meals for All Act.
The legislation (2025-H 5742, 2025-S 0430) would provide all public-school students access to breakfast and lunch at no cost, regardless of family income, to ensure they are fed and prepared to learn.
The Healthy School Meals for All Coalition, which includes more than 40 organizations dedicated to health, children, education and ending poverty, joined the sponsors at a State House event today in support of the legislation.
“As a child, I benefited from free lunch at school due to my family’s income. I can tell you how reassuring it was to know that, no matter what, every day that need was going to be met.
I wasn’t going to struggle through afternoon classes on an empty stomach. I am deeply grateful that I was able to get what I needed at school so I could concentrate on learning, and succeed,” said Senator Vargas (D-Dist. 28, Cranston, Providence). “Every child is growing, and they all need nutritious meals to be strong and successful at school. But not every child is getting that. When we welcome every student, every day to the cafeteria line to get a solid, healthy breakfast and lunch, we’ll eliminate not only hunger but stigma and unwarranted shame as well as administrative burdens for schools. Investing in universal school meals will make them better for everyone, help create the supportive, healthy environment that we need in every school and make sure all kids are ready to learn.”
The bill would institute universal school meals in three phases, beginning in all public elementary schools in the 2025-2026 school year, middle schools the following year and high schools the year after that.
“Healthy School Meals for All is even more important this year with the chaos emanating from Washington. Our kids don’t deserve to suffer because Donald Trump is putting tariffs on imported food, driving up grocery prices. They don’t deserve to miss meals because their parents have been booted off Medicaid and have to pay more for health care. They don’t deserve to go hungry because they have a parent who worked for the federal government in the civil service or at Naval State Newport and got axed by Elon Musk and his DOGE kids. In Donald Trump’s America, it’s even more important that school be a place where kids can eat,” said Representative Caldwell (D-Dist. 30, East Greenwich, West Greenwich). “Providing our kids with breakfast and lunch is part and parcel of a quality public education. We want them to be learning, soaking up new ideas, asking questions, and being on their best behavior. Let’s do what’s right for our kids, our families and our state, let’s make sure that every Rhode Island child in one of our state’s public schools is guaranteed to have two healthy school meals available for every day their parents put them in our care, so that schools can do their jobs and our kids can grow up healthy.”
Last year, through the current state budget, the General Assembly extended free meals to the approximately 6,200 children who meet the federal qualification for reduced-price meals at school.
Much of the cost of the expansion in this bill would be reimbursed with federal funds through U.S. Department of Agriculture programs that currently fully fund meals provided to students without charge. The federal government also currently reimburses a portion of the costs of meals provided to students who don’t qualify for the federal free rate. The state would reimburse districts for the remaining costs.
The Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, Newport, West Warwick and Woonsocket school districts, numerous charter schools, and a handful of other schools around the state already provide universal free school lunch because they qualify for federal funding based on income population-wide.
The increased reimbursement for greater participation in school meals would help programs improve meal quality, upgrade kitchen equipment, hire staff and increase the use of fresh and locally sourced ingredients. Additionally, not having to be involved with payments or to act as “lunch debt” collectors will decrease schools’ administrative burdens.
From the onset of the pandemic until the start of the 2022-2023 school year, school meals were provided to all public-school students nationwide for free through federal emergency funding and waivers.
The substantial benefits — both for students and for schools — subsequently prompted several states to enact bills such as this. If lawmakers pass this bill, Rhode Island would become the ninth state, following Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, California, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and New Mexico, to permanently enact a Healthy Meals for All program.
Providing free meals to all students would help address food insecurity in Rhode Island, which has been growing under rapid inflation and rising food costs. In 2024, nearly two out of every five of Rhode Island households were considered food insecure, meaning they struggled to afford adequate food. The rate is higher — as high as 47% — in communities of color.
The federally set income limits to qualify for free lunch exclude many families who are struggling in Rhode Island. Even with this year’s expansion of free meals to families who previously qualified for reduced-price meals, a family of two adults and two children must have an income at or below $57,720 to get free school meals in Rhode Island. According to the Economic Progress Institute’s 2024 Rhode Island Standard of Need, a family of four in Rhode Island needs a pre-tax income of $107,126 just to meet basic expenses.
Rhode Islanders support a Healthy School Meals for All program. According to the Rhode Island Survey Initiative conducted by the URI Harrington School of Communications & Media in September 2023, 68% support legislation that requires free lunches to be provided for all K-12 students attending public schools.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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