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School meals are critical to child health. Research has shown that\u00a0school meals can be more nutritious<\/a>\u00a0than meals from other sources, such as meals brought from home.<\/p>\n A recent study that one of us conducted found the quality of school meals has steadily improved, especially since the 2010\u00a0Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act<\/a>\u00a0strengthened nutrition standards for school meals. In fact, by 2017, another study found that school meals provided the\u00a0best diet quality<\/a>\u00a0of any major U.S. food source.<\/p>\n Many American families became familiar with universal free school meals during the COVID-19 pandemic. To ease the financial and logistical burdens of the pandemic on families and schools, the\u00a0U.S. Department of Agriculture issued waivers<\/a>\u00a0that allowed schools nationwide to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. However, these\u00a0waivers expired<\/a>\u00a0by the 2022-23 school year.<\/p>\n Since that time, there has been a substantial increase in schools participating in the\u00a0Community Eligibility Provision<\/a>, a federal policy that allows schools in high poverty areas to provide free breakfast and lunch to all attending students. The policy became available as an option for low-income schools nationwide in 2014 and was part of the\u00a0Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act<\/a>. By the 2022-23 school year,\u00a0over 40,000 schools<\/a>\u00a0had adopted the Community Eligibility Provision, an increase of more than 20% over the prior year.<\/p>\n