States

While school nutrition programs are making significant strides in offering healthier meals, they are severely constrained by insufficient funding, which limits their ability to expand scratch cooking, provide more fresh, local produce, and meet increasing financial pressures from rising food, labor, and equipment costs.

Despite the progress in increasing whole foods and reducing ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in school meals, the expansion of scratch cooking and the adoption of new federal nutrition standards face significant barriers, such as inadequate funding, staffing, equipment, and time for proper implementation.

However, efforts to protect and expand access to healthy school meals for all students face significant challenges due to potential changes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid under HR 1, which could undermine the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and reduce the number of students automatically certified for free and reduced-price meals.

SNA’s 2025 Position Paper calls on Congress to address long-term economic and regulatory challenges for school meal programs.