Published June 25

The Food Research & Action Center’s (FRAC) recent report, Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, highlights Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) adoption in the 2024– 2025 school year and showcases the significant growth in CEP utilization by schools and school districts around the country since becoming available nationwide over a decade ago. CEP allows high-poverty schools to offer all students breakfast and lunch at no charge regardless of household income, thus reducing stigma in the cafeteria and increasing participation in school meal programs. CEP supports students and their families, by stretching household food budgets, combatting childhood food insecurity, and supporting student health and learning. Furthermore, CEP streamlines the administration of school meal programs, reducing administrative burdens on school nutrition departments, and freeing staff time so school nutrition professionals can focus on their mission: serving students delicious and nutritious school meals.  

Schools in every state utilize CEP to bring healthy school meals to all students at no charge to families. According to this new report, in the 2024–2025 school year:  

  • 8,872 school districts adopted CEP, a 15.3 percent increase from the 2023–2024 school year; 
  • 54,234 of schools adopted CEP, a 14 percent increase from the 2023–2024 school year; and 
  • 27.2 million students attended a CEP school, reaching an additional 3.6 million children compared to the 2023–2024 school year. 

Increases in CEP adoption during the 2024–2025 school year were primarily driven by states initiating Medicaid Direct Certification in the preceding school year. Medicaid Direct Certification uses Medicaid participation and household income data to automatically link students to free or reduced-price school meals without the need for a school meal application. This reduces paperwork burdens on schools and families and increases the financial feasibility to implement CEP.  

Eligibility and federal reimbursement for CEP are based on the percentage of students who are automatically identified for free school meals without an application because they are in an eligible category such as being in foster care, or their household participates in another federal assistance program, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or in most states, Medicaid. Any school district, group of schools in a district, or school with 25 percent or more “identified students” — children who are certified eligible for free school meals without a school meals application — can choose to participate in CEP.  As states adopt Medicaid Direct Certification, more children are automatically linked to free school meals, and in turn, more schools can adopt CEP.  

While Medicaid Direct Certification was effective in moving the needle on CEP uptake this past school year, barriers still exist that prevent many eligible schools from participating. CEP schools at lower-eligibility levels often struggle to make ends meet in the program with the current federal reimbursement structure. States with policies that provide financial support for school nutrition programs, such as Healthy School Meals for All policies or CEP subsidies, often have better CEP adoption rates, particularly at the lowest-eligibility levels. 

Despite recent growth in CEP adoption, federal investment is required to ensure all children have access to nutritious school meals. Efforts to protect, strengthen, and expand direct certification are key to increasing students’ access to healthy school meals at no cost, and schools’ ability to implement CEP. The Expanding Access to School Meals Act of 2025 (H.R. 2680) and the School Meal Modernization and Hunger Elimination Act (S. 1431) would support schools’ adoption of CEP by strengthening direct certification and increasing federal reimbursement for CEP schools.  

Additionally, current efforts in Congress to slash SNAP will have downstream effects of reducing the number of students who automatically qualify for free school meals. This, in turn, means fewer schools will be eligible for CEP, and those that still qualify will receive less federal reimbursement, making it even more challenging to offer all students healthy school meals at no charge. The proposed cuts to SNAP in the budget reconciliation bill currently under consideration in Congress will increase hunger in homes and classrooms across the country.    

CEP has proven to be a beneficial tool in the fight against childhood hunger, getting schools one step closer to the ultimate goal of Healthy School Meals for All  — where every child in every state has access to the nutrition they need to succeed in the classroom and beyond.  

Take Action: To protect CEP, send a message to your Senators today urging them to oppose any cuts to SNAP.