Mar 24 Universal School Meals Help Meet Basic Needs for Children in Allegheny County

Mar 24h in Bold Voices by

(March 24, 2025)

This Bold Voices blog post was written by one of Allies for Children’s partners about a subject that is relevant to their work as well as ours.
Today’s blog was written by:

Jen Schuchart. Jen Schuchart has served as director of Meeting Basic Needs at United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania since July 2024.

On February 4, 2025, just two days after Punxsutawney Phil delivered his annual proposal, Gov. Josh Shapiro delivered his own – his upcoming budget priorities for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Among proposed funding to support child care workers and provide mental health services at school, Governor Shapiro also championed an increase of $10 million to sustain the popular universal school breakfast program.

Since its adoption in 2022, Pennsylvania’s universal school breakfast program has steadily grown. Last year, schools across the Commonwealth served 91.4 million breakfasts, allowing all students, regardless of their household income, to better focus on learning and engage with their peers, leading to improved health outcomes, academic achievement and attendance.

While United Way of Southwestern Pennsylvania supports continued funding for universal school breakfasts for all students, we know the need for healthy food doesn’t stop at the morning meal. According to Feeding America’s latest Map the Meal Gap study, one in six children in Pennsylvania face food insecurity daily. This rate is typically higher in rural areas. Adding universal school lunches would further reduce childhood food insecurity for all children, regardless of geography.

Pennsylvania currently participates in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which provides free or reduced priced lunches to students based on income guidelines. For the 2024-2025 school year, a family of four is eligible for free lunch if they earn $40,560 or less (130% Federal Poverty Level). If that same family earns up to $57,720 (185% Federal Poverty Level), they qualify for reduced-priced lunch. While some studies have shown a 14% decrease in the risk of food insecurity for households with at least one student participating in the program, we know that many of our neighbors still need this resource despite earning more than the income thresholds set by the program.

According to United Way’s ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) Children in Financial Hardship dataset, 29% of Pennsylvania’s school-aged children belong to households that do not earn enough to make ends meet despite earning well above the Federal Poverty Level. ALICE data tracks the true costs of meeting basic needs, providing a much more realistic picture of the number of people struggling than federal poverty guidelines, which calculate only how much is needed to afford a nutritious diet. ALICE considers the costs of housing, transportation, technology, health care, child care and more. A Pennsylvania family with two school-aged children must earn at least $70,404 annually to pay for their most basic necessities, according to the ALICE survival budget, almost $30,000 more than the annual income cutoff for free school lunches. According to the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey, 23% of Pennsylvanian families below the ALICE threshold, including households with incomes below the Federal Poverty Level, stated their kids were often or sometimes not eating enough because they couldn’t afford food. Universal school lunches could help fill the gap.

Enacting universal school lunches would go a step further than the governor’s current proposal, ensuring that children have access to nutritious food twice a day. According to the School Nutrition Association of Pennsylvania (SNAPA), school meals improve overall nutrition and wellness, enhance development and school readiness, support learning and attendance, contribute to positive mental health outcomes and so much more. School lunches typically exceed the nutritional content of those sourced elsewhere, particularly for low-income students, and improve student behavior. This impact lasts well past graduation day: one lifetime study showed that adults who had received school lunches in the 1940s saw long-term educational attainment well into adulthood.

Providing free lunches to all students reduces administrative paperwork for schools and lowers the cost per meal for school districts due to increased consumption. No longer would school districts need to process eligibility paperwork, verify a family’s eligibility or outline a policy for collecting school lunch debt. It also would eliminate the stigma that many students and parents face, discouraging participation in the program. Instead, all students could receive a nutritious meal with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Despite 77% of Pennsylvanian voters supporting universal school meals, last year’s legislation (House Bill 180 and Senate Bill 180), did not make it to Gov. Shapiro’s desk, but hope still remains strong. As of this writing, both chambers of the Pennsylvania General Assembly have introduced co-sponsored memoranda announcing their intent to re-introduce the legislation. As this year’s legislative session heads into budget negotiations, United Way and our partners are committed to advocating for these efforts to ensure no student experiences hunger at school.

A note from Allies for Children on Budget Reconciliation
The Fiscal Year 2025 House Budget Reconciliation Instructions call for spending cuts that would limit access to school meals and weaken school meal programs. Senate and House Reconciliation Budget proposals will need to be reconciled for a final resolution to be enacted. Currently, the timeline on this process is uncertain. Proposed cuts from the House include:

  • Restricting the Community Eligibility Provision
  • Requiring income verification with every free and reduced-price school meal application
  • Ending Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility

Allies for Children will continue to monitor the budget reconciliation process and advocate for increasing student access to nutrition, so that students in our region can go through the school day ready to learn. To contact your legislators about the importance of school meals, see SNAPA’s action alert here and FRAC’s action alert here.

Additional Resources:
Children in Financial Hardship: ALICE in Focus
Providing Free School Meals for all Pennsylvania Students
School Meals for All: No child should experience hunger in school Memorandum
School Meals for All Coalition