# Plain Language Summary: No Hungry Kids in Schools Act

This bill creates a new option for states to provide free school meals to all students at certain schools, funded through state money rather than relying solely on federal funding. Currently, schools can offer free meals to all students only if a certain percentage of kids in that school qualify based on family income. This bill lets states bypass that income-based requirement by putting up their own money to cover the cost of free meals for every child at participating schools.

The key change is that states can now pool together information about low-income students across all their schools statewide, rather than looking at each school individually. This makes it easier for states to qualify for the federal reimbursement that covers the cost of free meals. Essentially, if a state commits to funding free meals for all students at eligible schools using state dollars, the federal government will reimburse the state at the full free meal rate, regardless of how many low-income students are actually at any particular school.

The practical effect is that children in participating schools would get free breakfast and lunch without their families having to fill out income applications or prove they qualify. This removes barriers that sometimes prevent eligible families from signing up for free meals due to stigma, paperwork hassle, or simply not knowing about the program. The bill takes effect starting in the 2025-2026 school year, so states would need to decide whether they want to use this option and commit the necessary state funding to make it work.

No Hungry Kids in Schools Act

Aguilar, Pete

No Hungry Kids in Schools ActThis bill directs the Department of Agriculture&nbsp;(USDA) to establish an option for states to utilize a statewide Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for USDA school meal programs. As background, the CEP allows eligible schools, groups of schools, and school districts the option to offer free breakfast and lunch to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.Specifically, USDA must establish a statewide CEP option that may be used by a state agency. The state agency must provide state (nonfederal) funding to local educational agencies to reimburse applicable schools at the free reimbursement rate for 100% of the meals served.Eligibility for the statewide CEP must be based on a statewide calculation of the percentage of identified enrolled students, regardless of a school's local educational agency. Further, the bill lowers the CEP participation threshold for a statewide CEP to an identified student percentage (ISP) of zero, from a minimum of 25% under current regulations.&nbsp;The ISP is the percentage of students who are eligible for free school meals without a household application, primarily those who are directly certified through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).In addition, the bill specifies that the reimbursement multiplier for school meals remains at the current level of 1.6. The reimbursement multiplier is used to calculate how many meals will be reimbursed at the free meal rate.