Published August 17, 2026
Across the country, children are putting on their backpacks and returning to school. Millions of families are also struggling to make ends meet amid higher food, child care, and transportation costs.
Assessing how well we did in meeting children’s nutritional needs over the summer can help us take steps to do a better job during the school year, so more families can count on school breakfast and lunch and afterschool meals and snacks to support their children’s health and well-being, while reducing the pressure on their household budget.
Summer Nutrition: Progress and Gaps
We continue to make progress in combating summer hunger. The relatively new nationwide, permanent Summer EBT Program was available this year to over 20 million children from low-income households, providing $120 in grocery benefits, and rural areas continued to use flexibilities in serving summer meals.
Even with the gains that we have made, we can and should be doing more. Thirteen states — Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming — chose not to implement Summer EBT in 2026, leaving 10 million eligible children without benefits and foregoing a combined $1.2 billion that could have helped struggling families put food on the table. Additionally, summer meals serves only a fraction of the children who receive free or reduced-price school meals during the school year, and millions of children also missed out on educational and enrichment programming that, combined with summer meals, help ensure they return to school healthy and ready to learn.
The Important Role of School and Afterschool Meals
School breakfasts and lunches support children’s health, well-being, and academic achievement, and ease the strain on family finances. Yet, only families with household incomes at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty line qualify for free meals (less than $36,000 annually for a family of three), and the cost of school meals — even for those who qualify for reduced-price meals — makes school meals unaffordable for millions of struggling families.
Healthy School Meals for All — offering school breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge — overcomes the cost barrier for families, reduces the stigma of participating in the program, and helps ensure that children are in class well-nourished and ready to the learn. The approach is transforming school meals in the nine states — California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, and Vermont — that have passed a statewide policy, and in the 36,065 additional schools that have implemented the Community Eligibility Provision in the remaining 41 states and the District of Columbia.
The momentum for Healthy School Meals for All continues to grow. North Dakota is in line to be the 10th Healthy School Meals for All state. Together for School Meals is leading a November ballot initiative, and 79 percent of North Dakotans support providing free school meals for all children.
Beyond the school day, afterschool meals and snacks offer another important way to support children and families. These programs help ensure children have access to nutritious food during afterschool educational and enrichment programming, which keeps children learning, engaged, and safe, and provides important child care for working families. Yet, only 1.26 million children — one child for every 16 who participated in school lunch — received an afterschool supper in October 2024, highlighting a significant opportunity for growth. .
Barriers Blocking Children’s Access to Food
Last summer in the budget reconciliation law, H.R. 1, Congress cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), our nation’s most effective anti-hunger program, by $187 billion dollars. Since then, 5 million people have lost their SNAP benefits. When children lose SNAP, they are no longer automatically eligible for free school meals; some are not eligible for free school meals at all; and those who remain eligible can fall through the cracks during the application process. Losing SNAP and school meals puts children at risk for hunger at home and at school.
Families also continue to face higher food costs, which reinforces the importance of SNAP, Healthy School Meals for All, and afterschool suppers and snacks in helping children and their families to get the nutrition they need.
Moving Forward Together
As this new school year begins, there is reason for hope, but also a sense of urgency. Children only get one childhood, and there are no do-overs. Growing up in a food-insecure household, as one in five children do, can have a lasting impact on how they grow, learn, and thrive.
We need to build on the momentum to expand access to school, summer, and afterschool meals, advocate for policies to expand access to these programs, and reverse the devastating cuts to SNAP. Together, we can build a nation free from hunger where every child has the nutrition they need all year long.