During the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued waivers to allow schools to provide meals at no charge to all students. But the waiver authorizing free school meals for all students expired in June 2022. The pandemic served as a valuable lesson on the critical importance of providing healthy school meals to all students.  

Wisconsin advocates have worked to provide school meals at no charge to all students. In the 2021-2022 State Assembly session, Assembly Bill 805 was introduced to reimburse meal costs for schools that provide free school meals to all students. This bill had planned to extend the state funding framework for free breakfast and lunch to cover all K-12 students. This bill was not passed.

In his 2023-2025 proposed state budget, Governor Evers prioritized free school meals for all Wisconsin students, along with increased state breakfast reimbursement and a local food reimbursement incentive in his Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids plan. Both Healthy School Meals for All and the local food reimbursement incentive were removed from the proposed budget by the Joint Committee on Finance in May of 2023.

The Healthy School Meals for All Coalition will continue to advocate for school meals at no charge for all Wisconsin children, joining many other states across this country that have made these investments in their students!