Pandemic-era free lunch waivers set to expire, potentially affecting more than 1 million Texas kids

For many low- and middle-income parents with kids in the public school system, COVID-era universally free school breakfasts and lunches have been a godsend.

However, on June 30 those federal waivers are set to expire, putting as many as 1.4 million Texan children at risk of losing that sustenance at a time when families are struggling against rising inflation.

The Child Nutrition COVID-19 Waivers were approved by Congress and issued via the U.S. Department of Agriculture during 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. Amendments to the documents allowed all students — regardless of financial status — to eat breakfast and lunch at school for free.

The waivers allowed 10 million more U.S. students to dine free at school daily, Politico reports.  At the start of the COVID crisis, 3.7 million children in Texas were eligible to receive free and reduced lunches if their household fell below 130% of the Federal poverty level.

An extension of the waivers was originally included in the $1.5 trillion spending bill that President Joe Biden signed in March. However, its inclusion faced pushback from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Bon Appetit reports.

The extension would have kept the waivers in play for one more year.

As it stands now, families will return to the pre-COVID process of applying for free or reduced-price meals via the National School Lunch Program at the start of the 2022-2023 school year. The NSLP calculates financial eligibility of each student on a national level rather than a sliding scale that accounts for cost-of-living differences.

As advocates push for congressional action, some states aren’t holding their breath. California, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Vermont and Colorado are all in the process of passing their own universal free school meal legislation at the local level, Bon Appetit reports.

To encourage Congress to act before the waivers expire, family advocates urge residents to call their federal elected representatives.

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This article appears in Jun 1-14, 2022.