Breakfast, lunch will be free to all students at many more Oregon schools this year

About 70% of Oregon schools will offer free breakfasts and lunches to all students during the upcoming school year, up from around 55% a year ago, the state Department of Education said Monday.

Their ranks now include almost every school in the metro area, including all in Portland Public Schools, the state’s largest district, and the Beaverton School District, its third largest, both of which offered free meals only in higher need schools last year.

Universal school meals are having a national moment, after briefly being on the menu coast-to-coast for all students during the pandemic’s immediate aftermath. The federal government discontinued that effort in October, 2022.

Most recently, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, soon to be the Democrats’ formal nominee for vice president, went viral after being inundated with hugs from children when he signed a bill to make school breakfast and lunch free for all in 2023.

The topic isn’t without controversy though. Only eight states, all of them led by Democrats, have passed legislation guaranteeing free school meals regardless of income. Republican governors and legislators have pushed back, arguing that the program wastes money giving free meals to children from families who can afford to buy school food or pack a lunch from home.

Anti-hunger advocates have pointed to studies showing that making meals at school free for all students can reduce the stigma associated with getting them and that feeding all students translates to better behavioral and academic outcomes.

In Oregon, a bill that would have funded free school meals statewide died in the 2023 legislative session. But advocates are planning to renew that request in the 2025 session, said David Wieland, a policy advocate for Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon. It would cost less this time, Wieland said, because of changes in federal reimbursement policies that helped fuel this year’s expansion in Oregon.

The proposed bill is still taking shape, but advocates envision grants to help districts for whom it is a logistical struggle to serve meals — for example, to purchase more scratch cooking equipment, Wieland said. There are also ongoing conversations about how to ensure that students have time to eat cafeteria meals and meal choices appeal to their palates to cut down on waste, he said.

Last October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that if at least 25% of students in schools and districts were enrolled in government assistance programs like food stamps or Head Start or were homeless, migrants or in foster care, the entire school or district could qualify for free meals and get reimbursed for up to 90% of the cost of providing them. Previously, the threshold had been set at 40%. Oregon lawmakers pitched in an extra $17 million to help schools defray the extra costs.

Another big factor that aided the expansion, said Matt Newell-Ching, a policy manager for the Oregon Food Bank: a federal pilot program that has allowed all Medicaid-eligible Oregon children to be automatically registered for free school lunches, taking the paperwork onus off of their parents.

In schools that aren’t offering universal free school meals this year, a family of four needs to make under $90,000 annually to qualify for their students for free lunches. Every school district sets its own prices for lunch, and costs can vary widely. There are no free meals planned in ???

In addition to Portland and Beaverton, free meals will also be offered in North Clackamas, Tigard-Tualatin and Hillsboro.

“Everyone’s food budgets are high right now, and this helps all families,” Newell-Ching said. “Instead of putting in means tests about who needs it, this is a recognition that food costs are high for everyone.”

— Julia Silverman covers education for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach her via email at jsilverman@oregonian.com or find her on X.com at @jrlsilverman.