Sponsor
S. Raja Krishnamoorthi
Representative · D-IL
Representative · D-IL
The bill guarantees free school lunches and removes meal-denial stigma—improving child nutrition and simplifying administration—but increases federal/state costs, may leave some families and schools financially strained, and changes oversight/implementation in ways that could create funding and administrative risks.
Students in participating schools will receive free lunches every school day, reducing meal cost barriers and ensuring children get daily nutrition.
Students with unpaid meal debt will no longer be denied meals or stigmatized, and schools will be reimbursed for delinquent debt, protecting children's access to food and reducing on-site collection practices.
Sets a predictable national average payment ($4.86) with CPI-FAFH adjustments, giving school meal providers more stable, forecastable funding.
Taxpayers and state budgets will face higher program costs because universal free lunches and debt reimbursement expand federal/state spending and appropriations are authorized 'as necessary' without specified offsets.
Ending the reduced-price category removes partial subsidies for families just above poverty thresholds, potentially shifting meal costs onto those families or forcing schools to cover gaps.
The fixed $4.86 base payment with CPI-FAFH adjustments may lag actual food and labor cost increases, leaving schools undercompensated and straining meal program budgets.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Makes school lunches universally free at participating schools, sets a federal lunch reimbursement rate indexed to food-service inflation, and reimburses schools for unpaid meal debt.
Official title: To amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to make lunches free for all children and to reimburse school meal delinquent debt, and for other purposes.
Introduced February 12, 2026 by S. Raja Krishnamoorthi · Last progress February 12, 2026
Makes school lunches free for every child enrolled in a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program, sets a national average federal reimbursement rate for free lunches indexed to food-service inflation, and requires the USDA to reimburse schools for outstanding unpaid meal charges. It also removes statutory references to reduced-price lunches, reorganizes related code provisions, requires data collection and a GAO evaluation of the delinquent-debt reimbursement program, and establishes timing for implementation (general effective date one year after enactment, with some immediate and specific-date provisions).