New York school meal program threatened by federal policy changes

New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli has issued a report warning that recent federal legislative changes could jeopardize the stability of the state’s universal school meal program. The program, which provides free meals to all participating students, relies on a financial partnership between the state and the federal government.

Under Public Law 119-21, enacted in 2025, federal eligibility requirements for SNAP and Medicaid have been tightened through expanded work requirements and more frequent renewal processes. Because the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) uses SNAP and Medicaid enrollment levels to determine which schools can provide free meals to all students without individual applications, a decline in these federal program enrollments could reduce federal reimbursements.

As of May 2026, more than 1.9 million New York students participated in the school lunch program, the third-largest in the United States. While New York received over $1.1 billion in federal funding for nutrition efforts in Fiscal Year 2025, DiNapoli warns that if federal eligibility drops, the state’s financial responsibility to maintain universal coverage will likely increase, potentially driving up costs for New York taxpayers.