School districts are serving up hundreds of additional breakfasts and lunches this year with the launch of New York state’s universal free meals program.
This is the program’s first year. New York instituted the free meals program with the goal of increasing student attendance and focus in the classroom. The state budget signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul set aside $340 million for school meals, an increase of $160 million from the previous year.
All students in a district can now get free meals regardless of their families’ income.
For districts like Pittsford, the significant uptick in students receiving breakfasts and lunches has required more than just additional supplies.
“We brought more staff on to be prepared,” said Elena Montgomery, Pittsford’s food services director. “As we get a better grip on our numbers, because they are increasing still, and do change month to month, you know, we're increasing staff.”
The district has taken on around 10 more food service staff than last year to account for the increased demand, she said. And while they’ve seen some issues maintaining supply, she said, they’ve found workarounds.
“One day it could be milk, one day it could be paper products, one day it could be chicken. You know, right now, it's lettuce, and that's not anyone's fault. It's due to the storms out west ... So it's not one specific thing, it's just a cyclical thing that happens yearly.”
Alternative solutions so far have been tapping into local sources like Pittsford Dairy, and seeking out warehouse retailers like Amazon, Montgomery said.
According to the district, about six students on average got school breakfasts each day in September 2024. This past September, with the new universal free meal program in place, jumped to about 870 breakfasts served.
Add in lunches, and Pittsford served up nearly 1,600 more meals each day in the first month of school – that is triple what it was last year. In Penfield and Brighton, the number of meals served is up by more than 50% -- or an average of 1,300 and 1,000 daily meals, respectively. Honeoye-Lima has seen a similar upswing.
Those districts have not participated in similar programs like the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) in previous years. CEP provides free meals for all students at schools that have a high concentration of low-income families. Rochester and Greece are among the that were part of that program, and therefore haven’t seen a jump under the universal free meals program.
New York’s program has similar intentions as CEP.
“The Universal School Meals Program ensures every single one of New York’s 2.7 million students receive free breakfast and lunch at school, addressing food insecurity in the classroom and driving down costs for families by an average of $165 per kid per month,” a statement from the Governor’s office at the start of the school year said.
This is just a glimpse of how the rollout is going. WXXI News reached out to other districts in Monroe County and the state Education Department but did not hear back.
