Gov. Wolf Announces State Will Fund Free Breakfast For All Students This School Year

September 10, 2022

Gov. Tom Wolf announces the state’s $21.5 million plan to provide universal free school breakfast for 1.7 million students.
Credit: PA Internet News Service

Starting October 1, parents whose kids go to public and private schools across Pennsylvania won’t have to get breakfast ready.

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, announced Friday that the state has committed $21.5 million to funding school breakfast for students through the remainder of the 2022-23 school year. More than 1.7 million students will be eligible.

According to the Friday announcement by Wolf, eligibility for a free meal would not be based on family on income.

The governor said no stigma is attached to the free meal because all students can get a school breakfast regardless of whether they are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

“It is completely unacceptable for a child to start the day hungry,” said Gov. Wolf. “I’m taking hunger off the table for Pennsylvania kids by creating the Universal Free Breakfast Program.”

The new breakfast program does not cover school lunches. However, local schools districts take part in programs for free or reduced cost meals for students whose families meet certain requirements.

Thanks to a federal program, the Bristol Township School District is able to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students for the next four years.

A Pennsbury student grabbing lunch at Fallsington Elementary School in fall 2013.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com

Through a federal nutrition waiver, the U.S. Department of Agriculture paid for all students’ free breakfasts and lunches for the duration of the epidemic, which lasted from March 2020 through the previous academic year.

According to No Kid Hungry, a national initiative to reduce childhood hunger in America, there are many advantages to breakfast for youngsters. In addition to being more concentrated, they also do better on tests and miss fewer days of school.

School Nutrition Association of Pennsylvania Communications Chair Melissa Froehlich celebrated the Wolf administration’s move and heralded the benefits of breakfast for children.

“Universal free breakfast for all students in Pennsylvania will strengthen child nutrition programs and address equity and stigma around school breakfast so that more children will have access to nutritious meals and set our students up for success in the classroom,” said Froehlich.

The free school breakfasts will only last through the end of this school year. For future funding, the state’s next governor and legislature will have to agree to fund the program.

Wolf told reporters he hopes this year’s investment is “priming the pump” for free school breakfasts to continue.