Dive Brief:
- Free school meals opened up to many more children from low-income families as Community Eligibility Provision participation surged 15.3% between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years, according to a new report from the Food Research & Action Center.
- Among eligible CEP school districts, 64% opted into the program in 2024-25, FRAC reported. That means 54,234 schools across 8,872 districts have adopted CEP, reaching 27.2 million students nationwide.
- The uptick in CEP participation, however, comes as Congress is considering cutting billions in funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. If those cuts mean fewer students’ families are enrolled in SNAP, it will be harder for districts to be eligible for CEP, FRAC noted.
Dive Insight:
Republican-led proposals to cut SNAP are pending in Congress as lawmakers work to reach agreement on the controversial “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” as soon as this week. SNAP, meanwhile, is a metric used to streamline eligibility for CEP, the federal program that helps high poverty schools and districts provide free school meals to every student.
Senators on Monday were debating and considering amendments to their bill after the House narrowly passed its own version in May. The House bill would reduce federal spending for SNAP by $287 billion, according to recent estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.
Under Senate Republicans’ plan, which suggests similar reductions to SNAP, “many children would see food assistance to their families cut substantially or terminated,” said the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in June. The Senate GOP’s proposal calls for increasing work requirements to receive SNAP benefits and eliminating eligibility for some immigrants.
Over 40 million people — including 16 million children — receive some form of food assistance through SNAP, according to the center.
CEP allows school districts to use SNAP as a metric for automatically opting students into free and reduced-price meals without requiring their families to fill out a separate application. That process, known as direct certification, also helps high-poverty schools become eligible for participation in CEP. The higher the concentration of students identified for free or reduced-price meals, the more federal reimbursement dollars CEP schools receive to cover food costs.
Over the past 11 years, FRAC reported that the number of participating CEP schools steadily rose from 14,184 to 54,234.
“Each year, CEP has reached more students, reducing hunger and stigma in school cafeterias,” said Crystal FitzSimons, president of FRAC, in a June 25 statement. “But that progress would be put at risk if Congress cuts SNAP. Fewer students in SNAP-participating households mean fewer schools would be eligible for community eligibility. We can’t let that happen.”
Additionally, FRAC experts have previously warned that proposed cuts to Medicaid during the budget reconciliation process in Congress could hinder schools’ ability to participate in CEP. Medicaid is another metric for directly certifying students for free or reduced-price meals.
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