HR8728-119

What This Bill Does

The Feed Our Kids Act of 2026 would make school breakfast, school lunch, summer meals, child and adult care food program meals, and afterschool meals or supplements free for covered children and participants. Unless otherwise provided, the bill takes effect one year after enactment. For school breakfast, it requires schools participating in the breakfast program to provide free breakfast to all enrolled children, sets the national average payment for each free breakfast at $2.80, adjusts that amount annually using the Consumer Price Index for food away from home, bars schools from collecting unpaid breakfast debt, and prohibits breakfast shaming through segregation, discrimination, special tokens, published lists, or other overt identification. It also changes startup grant language toward schools with free breakfast programs and at least 40 percent economically disadvantaged students.

For school lunch, the bill sets the national average payment for each free lunch at $4.63 with annual inflation adjustments. It adds local-food payments for school food authorities whose prior-year meals were at least 25 percent locally sourced farm products: $0.30 for each free lunch or supper, $0.21 for each free breakfast, and $0.08 for each free supplement, with annual adjustments. It makes all children enrolled in a participating school eligible for free lunch and removes reduced-price language throughout the school lunch law. It repeals the special assistance program and removes paid-lunch price provisions. The bill also broadens summer food service access by making all children eligible for summer meals, allowing waivers when program requirements limit access, paying service institutions for meals during summer months, school vacations, teacher in-service days, and certain school closures, and limiting reimbursement to three meals and one supplement per child per day.

The bill makes all meals and supplements served under the child and adult care food program free, reimburses breakfast and lunch at the free school breakfast and free lunch rates, reimburses supplements at $1.20 with inflation adjustments, and sets meal and supplement reimbursement limits. It changes the afterschool program from meal supplements to free meals and supplements, reimburses a free afterschool meal at $4.63 with inflation adjustment, reimburses supplements at the CACFP supplement rate, prohibits afterschool meal shaming, and bars collection of unpaid afterschool meal or supplement debt. It refocuses the fresh fruit and vegetable program on high-need schools, including Tribal schools, and requires state agencies to inform those schools of eligibility. It updates training and pilot-project language from free or reduced-price eligibility to economically disadvantaged student measures.

The bill creates a USDA program to reimburse schools for delinquent debt owed by parents or guardians for school breakfast, school lunch, or afterschool meals and supplements as of the effective date. USDA must establish the program within 60 days, design and distribute a data form to state agencies, and provide all reimbursements within 180 days. GAO must publicly report to Congress within two years on the program's successes and challenges. Finally, the Food and Nutrition Service must report to Congress within one year on whether the free lunch and breakfast changes improve academic outcomes, increase access to nutritional meals and locally sourced farm products, and whether more legislative or administrative action is needed to increase local farm products in school meals.

Who Benefits and How

Children enrolled in participating schools benefit because breakfast and lunch become free without reduced-price categories or meal debt stigma. Parents and guardians benefit because schools cannot collect unpaid meal debt after the bill's transition rules, and USDA must reimburse existing school meal debt. Children using summer meal sites, child care programs, adult care food settings, and afterschool care benefit because free meals and supplements expand beyond the school day and school year. School food authorities and service institutions benefit from higher federal reimbursement rates and debt reimbursement. Local farms, food hubs, and cooperatives benefit from added reimbursement for meals made with locally sourced farm products. High-need schools and Tribal schools benefit from fresh fruit and vegetable program outreach.

Who Bears the Burden and How

USDA, the Food and Nutrition Service, state educational agencies, state child nutrition agencies, school food authorities, service institutions, CACFP institutions, and afterschool meal providers bear implementation burdens because they must change eligibility, reimbursement, debt collection, anti-shaming, local-food certification, data collection, and reporting practices. Schools lose the ability to collect unpaid meal debt directly from families, although the bill creates a reimbursement program for existing delinquent debt. State agencies must disburse funds, certify local-food thresholds, inform high-need schools about fresh fruit and vegetable eligibility, and collect delinquent debt data. USDA must build the debt reimbursement program and FNS must prepare the outcomes report. Federal taxpayers bear the added cost of universal free meals, higher payment rates, local-food bonuses, CACFP and afterschool reimbursements, summer meal expansion, and meal debt reimbursement.

Key Provisions

• Provides free school breakfast to all children enrolled at participating schools, sets the breakfast reimbursement at $2.80 with annual inflation adjustment, bars breakfast debt collection, and prohibits breakfast shaming.
• Provides free school lunch to all children in participating schools, sets the lunch reimbursement at $4.63 with annual inflation adjustment, removes reduced-price language, and creates local-food bonus payments of $0.30 per lunch or supper, $0.21 per breakfast, and $0.08 per supplement.
• Expands summer food service by making all children eligible, allowing access waivers, paying for meals during summer, vacations, in-service days, and certain closures, and allowing up to three meals and one supplement per child per day.
• Provides free CACFP meals and supplements, expands afterschool meals and supplements, sets reimbursement rates and limits, prohibits afterschool meal shaming, and bars afterschool meal debt collection.
• Requires state agencies to inform high-need schools, including Tribal schools, about fresh fruit and vegetable program eligibility.
• Establishes a USDA school meal delinquent debt reimbursement program with debt data collection through state agencies, reimbursement within 180 days, and a GAO report within two years.
• Requires a Food and Nutrition Service report to Congress within one year on academic outcomes, nutritional meal access, locally sourced farm products, and additional actions to increase local farm products.