HARRISBURG — Almost all Pennsylvania students would be eligible for a no-cost lunch at school, and schools would no longer be able to discipline students for having meal debt under bills currently circulating in Harrisburg.

The measures aim to bring back a short-lived, pandemic-era policy in which the federal government funded free school breakfasts and lunches.

After that funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture stopped in 2022, Pennsylvania used state dollars to keep providing universal free breakfast. But while students from families in the lowest income brackets can still receive free lunch, the program fell by the wayside for most.

Currently, eligibility for free lunches provided by USDA is based on income. A child in a family of four qualifies for federally funded free school lunch only if their annual income is less than $41,795, while a family of four making up to $59,477 qualifies for reduced-cost lunch.

Of approximately 1.7 million Pennsylvania public school students, 56.6% qualified for free or reduced-cost lunches in the 2022-23 school year.

Speaking at a news conference in support of the free lunch bills Tuesday in Harrisburg, state Sen. Judy Schwank (D., Berks), a co-sponsor of the legislation, said she thinks that’s not good enough.

“The very first step in providing quality education is making sure that every student walks in the door ready to focus, not distracted by a grumbling stomach,” Schwank said.

Similar versions of the bills have been introduced in both the Democratic-controlled state House and the Republican-run state Senate, and are awaiting consideration in the education committees.

State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) did not directly answer if he supported the legislation, instead indicating the commonwealth cannot afford to pay for the program. He said the budget proposed by Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, “does not include a realistic path to close the state’s multibillion-dollar structural deficit.”

“We must be honest with taxpayers about the difficult reality that this budget cannot be all things to all people,” he said.

Elizabeth Rementer, a spokesperson for state House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, said only that the caucus is “reviewing the bill.”

Still, state Sen. Lindsey Williams (D., Allegheny), the primary sponsor of her chamber’s bill, said she hopes to fit the measures into this year’s state budget, describing free school meals as an essential part of public education funding.

Along with guaranteeing free meals for all students at schools participating in the National School Lunch and Breakfast programs — which allows public and nonprofit private schools to opt in — and establishing a state fund to pay for them, the measures would ban schools from disciplining students who aren’t able to pay.

This includes barring schools from shaming students who can’t pay for their meals, state Rep. Emily Kinkead (D., Allegheny), the primary sponsor of her chamber’s bill, told Spotlight PA. She referenced instances of a school stamping a child’s hand to signify they couldn’t pay for a meal, and another in which a student was suspended after eating a meal they didn’t purchase.

In 2019, a Luzerne County school district got national attention after it reportedly sent out letters warning families with lunch debt that they could be sent to juvenile court and their children could end up in foster care.

Schwank said the bills would also reduce the stigma for children who already get free meals by offering them to all students. This ensures that “all kids are treated equally in the cafeteria,” she said.

One in six Pennsylvania children face hunger, according to Feeding America, a nonprofit that runs food banks nationwide.

“Thousands of children rely on school breakfast and lunch as their consistent source of daily nutrition,” said Nicole Melia, an advocate with the nonprofit School Nutrition Association of Pennsylvania, who held the Tuesday rally. “School meals are a safety net for food security.”

Meals provided under the bill, which would adhere to National School Lunch and Breakfast program standards, invest in kids’ health, Melia said. USDA regulations limit the amount of sugar, sodium and saturated fat in school meals they fund, while requiring some fruit, vegetables and grains.

For some children, a school-provided lunch is healthier than what they bring from home. A teacher previously told Spotlight PA she often sees children bring lunch boxes full of candy and junk.

Williams’ bill estimates that it would cost the state about $360 million annually to provide universal school meals — a number that includes the $46.5 million annually that Pennsylvania is already paying for free breakfasts.

Her version of the measure also includes an additional one-time cost to pay off families’ outstanding meal debt. The measure pegs that cost as being around $25 million, though the bill also notes that the total debt could be more.

Williams noted these numbers could change if U.S. House Republicans’ budget bill becomes law.

The version of the bill that passed the U.S. House last month would tighten eligibility requirements for schools to participate in the USDA Community Eligibility Provision, a program for schools with a high concentration of students that qualify for federal assistance. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank, estimates nearly 700 schools in Pennsylvania would lose CEP eligibility, affecting 320,000 children.

“Less kids will get lunch at school and more families will be responsible for those costs,” Williams said.

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Vincent DiFonzo is an intern with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association.

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Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania.