Governor Shapiro’s first budget proposes $38.5 million to provide universal free breakfast to all Pennsylvania students – regardless of income – through the Free School Breakfast Program and to cover the cost of lunch for 22,000 school students whose families earn less than 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Since its implementation, the program has served more than 23 million breakfasts to students across the Commonwealth.

Under the program, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) will use the existing meal reimbursement program to pay schools for the difference between the free federal reimbursement and paid or reduced-price meal reimbursement so that no student has an out-of-pocket cost for a reimbursable breakfast and students eligible for reduced lunch can receive a school lunch at no cost to their families at schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. The Governor’s budget proposal seeks to provide sustainable, recurring state funding to extend the program and will also allow students whose families are between 130% and 185% of the poverty line to receive a free lunch.

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