With the passage of the NYS 2026 budget featuring a $368 million investment in Universal School Free Meals, we are excited to share more details that we have gleaned about the program, based on conversations with officials in the NYSED Office of Child Nutrition as well as the May 21st webinar on “How to Become an SFA”.
As expected, on top of the huge increase in the budget for this program, the program now allows non-CEP eligible schools to participate and qualify for the state subsidy, a game changing development! These schools will have to utilize Provision 2 for their eligibility determinations and serve lunch to all their students, whether they qualify for a federal reimbursement or not. The State will cover the costs that the school would normally have to absorb by joining through Provision 2. A benefit of Provision 2 is that a school only has to collect eligibility forms from all school families in the first year of the program, known as a base year. For the next 3 years eligibility is based on the ratio of eligibility that was established in the base year.
The recent NYSED webinar underscores several key components of the Free Lunch program, and you can access the presentation here. The most important thing to remember is that the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a very detailed program with regulations on eligibility, nutrition, procurement, meal counting, and much more. It is a program that requires a major commitment from a school that wants to participate. That being said, there are real opportunities through the program that can bring many benefits to schools that have the staff and facilities to comply with the program rules.
To apply to become a School Food Authority (SFA) or a Recipient Agency (RA), schools must first request an application from the New York State Education Department Office of Child Nutrition here. Applications are due on July 31st. If you have any questions, please reach out to Yosef Kanofsky at kanofskyy@teachcoalition.org.
There will be a webinar specific to the newly passed legislation on June 5 from 1-2 PM. Here is the link to register.
We will continue to share more resources and information about the program so you can make an informed decision about participating.