Sponsor
Ami Bera
Representative · D-CA
Representative · D-CA
The bill increases federal reimbursements to expand after-the-bell school breakfast access and encourage participation—benefiting low-income students and struggling school meal programs—but it raises public costs, creates unequal eligibility effects across schools, and adds administrative responsibilities for states.
Students in eligible schools — especially low-income and food-insecure children — will get increased access to school breakfast because schools receive an extra $0.10 for each reimbursable breakfast served after the bell, which should raise participation and improve morning nutrition.
Students and schools that adopt breakfast-after-the-bell models (classroom/kiosk) are more likely to see higher breakfast participation and the associated learning and morning-attention benefits from better nutrition.
Schools serving high-need populations or opting into targeted assistance receive higher per-breakfast reimbursements, improving school meal program finances and making it easier for districts to cover costs and sustain expanded breakfast service.
Taxpayers will bear increased federal/state spending because reimbursements add cost for each qualifying after-the-bell breakfast served.
Students and schools that fall below the eligibility thresholds (e.g., under 40% identified students and not opting into special assistance) will not get the extra 10¢, creating unequal support across districts and potentially widening resource gaps.
State educational agencies will face added administrative work and judgment calls to determine which service models “increase participation,” risking inconsistent standards and compliance burdens across states.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Adds a $0.10 per-meal federal reimbursement for qualifying "breakfast after the bell" breakfasts and requires States to pass it through to the serving school.
Official title: To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to provide additional reimbursement to schools with a breakfast after the bell program, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 19, 2026 by Ami Bera · Last progress March 19, 2026
Provides a small additional federal reimbursement (an extra $0.10) for each reimbursable breakfast served through a "breakfast after the bell" program at qualifying K–12 schools and requires States to pass that extra payment through to the schools that served the meal. Qualifying schools are those in LEAs that elect certain special assistance payments or schools that had at least 40% identified students in the prior year; the bill defines eligible service models as those the State educational agency finds increase breakfast participation (for example, in-classroom or kiosk service). The change is narrowly targeted to school breakfast operations, aims to boost participation by encouraging breakfasts served after the start of the school day, and does not create new standalone funding streams beyond the enhanced per-meal reimbursement under the National School Lunch Act provision it amends.