Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins highlighted the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda and cited changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as evidence of federal leadership in nutrition and health. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) similarly describes its MAHA strategy as strengthening nutrition programs, expanding healthier choices, and supporting families. Yet that narrative omits a critical part of the story: Policies advanced alongside the MAHA agenda are making SNAP harder to access, administer, operate, and evaluate at precisely the moment families are struggling with high food costs and food insecurity.
For more than a decade, high-poverty schools across the country have been able to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), reducing stigma and making it easier for children to access the nutrition they need to learn and thrive. Since becoming available nationwide in the 2014–2015 school year, CEP adoption has expanded dramatically, reaching over 27 million students in the 2025–2026 school year, and has become a cornerstone strategy for reducing childhood hunger. A new study by FRAC and the Urban Institute, Expanding the Reach and Impact of School Meals: How and Why Do Changes to the Community Eligibility Provision Affect Adoption?, examines over a decade of CEP implementation and sheds light on what drives schools to participate.
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.