Free school breakfasts move closer to reality in Virginia

Legislation to provide free breakfast to public school students across the state is moving forward in the General Assembly with committees set to review the cost.

Sen. Danica Roem, D-Manassas, and Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker, D-Alexandria, are leading the charge after a similar effort fell short last year. Bennett-Parker’s bill was shelved by the House Appropriations Committee due to competing priorities while Roem’s Senate bill was following an amendment by Gov. Glenn Youngkin directing a work group to evaluate the program’s potential impact.

“Children cannot learn if they are hungry. This bill is an investment in their education and would maximize all of the other education investments we are making,” Bennett-Parker said during a House Education subcommittee meeting on Tuesday. 

Roem stressed the importance of school breakfasts in improving attendance, an ongoing challenge since the pandemic, and noted the proposal could also alleviate meal debt for families.

Under Senate Bill 1003 and House Bill 1958, schools would be required to join the federal National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, offering breakfast at no cost to any students who request it. Schools could only withhold meals with parental consent.

The Virginia Department of Education would oversee reimbursing schools for each breakfast served under the proposed legislation, with the limit of one breakfast per student per day. The bill also eliminated an outdated provision related to the federal breakfast program, streamlining the process for universal free school breakfasts. 

In a shorter legislative session with a more focused scope, the bills are gaining strong support from groups like the School Nutrition Association of Virginia, the Virginia Education Association and No Kid Hungry Virginia.

“We know that when a child shows up to school and is able to have a full belly, they are able to learn better,” said Emily Moore, a senior policy analyst for Voices For Virginia’s Children, during the Senate Education and Health subcommittee meeting on Jan. 16. 

While opposition has been minimal, Dr. Sheila Furey raised concerns at the same meeting about the lack of nutritional guidelines in Roem’s bill. She urged lawmakers to prioritize a “high fat, high protein breakfast” over processed foods to better support students’ health.

Christina Berta, chief operating officer for the Virginia Department of Education, opposed the legislation, advocating instead for the state to encourage school divisions to adopt Community Eligibility Provisions (CEP). She argued that CEP is a better approach to providing meals for students in need, coupled with leveraging available funding through a student-weighted funding formula.

“[The CEP] program has not demonstrated universal free breakfast or meals … success in other states,” Berta said, noting that the agency has detailed information about meal access in a recent task force report. 

Sen. Mark Peake, R-Lynchburg, echoed his concerns from last year, stating that he could not support the legislation when affluent localities, such as those in Northern Virginia, could afford to pay for their students’ breakfasts.

“I cannot in good conscience support this, and I know they’re going to say, ‘Oh, that mean old Republican wants to starve kids,’” Peake said. “I don’t want to starve kids, but I don’t want rich parents not taking care of their kids. The money should go to the kids who need it and this does not do that.”

In response, Roem argued that students in need exist in every part of the state, regardless of the wealth of their localities. She noted that even families in affluent areas might qualify for free and reduced meals.

The Department of Planning and Budgeting reported that the Virginia Department of Education estimates the legislation would add an annual state cost of at least $29 million starting in fiscal year 2026. According to Roem, the projected cost has dropped from $40 million because the bill would eliminate expenses tied to existing breakfast programs. 

She also highlighted that the measure would save families $315 per child each year.

In November, the Youngkin administration released a report estimating that providing universal free breakfast and lunch for all students would cost Virginia $201.5 million annually.

“Given this cost, concerns regarding the sustainability of any future program of this nature in the commonwealth as well as the impact on local school divisions should future state funding be reduced or eliminated must be considered,” the report noted. “Once funding is provided, any removal of that state funding would result in expected services to families, thus resulting in an unfunded mandate and burden on local school divisions.”

Roem criticized the administration’s approach, arguing they “missed the assignment” by conflating universal breakfast and lunch programs. She noted that while the report identified eight states with universal meals programs — California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, Vermont, and Minnesota — it omitted Pennsylvania, a state with divided government that has implemented offering free breakfast.

“If Pennsylvania can do this, there’s no reason Virginia can’t,” Roem said, adding that she believes the commonwealth is in a better financial position to support such a measure.

The breakfast bills have advanced from the Senate and House Education committees and now head to their respective budget committees for consideration.

This article first appeared on Virginia Mercury and is republished here with permission. Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence.