When Michigan public school students return to the classroom this year, they can head to their school cafeteria and have breakfast and lunch for free.
A program Michigan started funding in the 2023-24 school year is returning for the 2026-27 school year.
The state's education budget, signed into law in July, includes $200 million to continue free school meals for 1.4 million public school students. This program saves the average family about $1,000 per year, a news release from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office said.
Free breakfast and lunch for everyone wasn't always standard in school cafeterias, but families became used to the benefit during the pandemic, when federal rules temporarily changed. The federal rule allowing for universal meals
ended in the 2022-23 school year, when students not eligible based on income had to pay again.
State lawmakers in 2023 worked to bridge the gap between the federal school lunch and breakfast program with state funding, creating Michigan School Meals, a broad strategy to address childhood hunger by reaching vulnerable children where they can be reached: in school.
Many feared free lunches for Michigan's public school kids would be cut last year, as the budget passed by the Michigan House earlier in the summer did not include a specific allocation for the meal program. Some districts decided to stop offering free breakfast and lunch for every student without any money explicitly set aside for the universal meals program.
The budget was eventually signed into law in October and secured continued funding for free breakfast and lunch for Michigan students.
On average in October 2025, more than 470,000 students ate school breakfast for free every day, and 865,000 students ate school lunch every day, Michigan Education Department spokesperson Ken Coleman said in an email.
Schools indicate through their annual federal program application if they are participating in the state supplemental reimbursement program, Coleman said. Not all schools need to participate in the state supplemental program, as they already serve all meals free of cost to students under the federal program.
More than 3,500 schools participated in the Michigan School Meals program last year, he said.
All public schools offer all meals free to all students either through the federal program or through a combination of the federal and state programs, Coleman said.
Contact Adrienne Roberts: amroberts@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan schools to offer free meals at the start of the year
