Our 2025 Child Nutrition Policy Year in Review

It’s been (quite) a year, and as we close it out, we’re taking a look back at the child nutrition policy and advocacy moments that captured our attention. Welcome back to our annual school food policy wrapped: the headlines, advocacy pushes, and the state wins of 2025 that deserve a replay.

ADVOCACY HITS

Protecting CEP (Community Eligibility Provision)

If there was one track we kept coming back to all year, it was this: school meals matter. School meals help kids learn, and CEP is one of the most powerful tools for eligible schools to serve breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge. Earlier this year, lawmakers considered changes to CEP that would have removed access to school meals for millions of students by raising the eligibility threshold.

But then you and thousands of advocates showed up in a big way to urge Congress to protect CEP. Through our combined advocacy efforts, we delivered thousands of letters, testimonies, and messages from you to your lawmakers, protecting students’ access to school meals. This was a great reminder of how our collective actions can make all the difference.

AmeriCorps funding fight

2025 also brought major turbulence for national service. Across the country, organizations faced rapid changes and proposed funding cuts that threatened the stability of AmeriCorps-supported work.

For FoodCorps, this wasn’t abstract. Since our inception, we have partnered with AmeriCorps to support students with nourishing meals and hands-on food education. Our 1,500+ FoodCorps AmeriCorps alumni include teachers, farmers, food service directors, medical doctors, and community leaders whose service with AmeriCorps shaped their futures. 

This year, we had to navigate major changes. While we now operate outside a partnership with AmeriCorps, we still recognize the importance of a robust national service program and advocate for it. This year, we advocated loudly to protect AmeriCorps, and we’ll continue to push for sustained investments in the people-powered work that helps schools and communities thrive.

NEW TO THE MIX

Oregon launched a 10-year Farm to School vision

In a year full of sudden shifts, Oregon’s farm to school community offered long-term planning grounded in community voice and practical goals. This year, they launched a 10-year strategic vision for Oregon Farm to School (2025–2035) — a transformative roadmap to ensure every child has access to delicious, nutritious local food while supporting Oregon’s farmers, food makers, educators, and communities.

We’re big fans of this roadmap and the collective efforts in Oregon, which aim to expand hands-on food education, increase local food access in child nutrition programs, strengthen school food culture, and build real career pathways for educators, nutrition professionals, and producers.

Quality Conversations

This year also brought up conversations about what school meals should look like. California signed a first-in-the-nation law that directs the state to define “ultraprocessed foods of concern” and then phase those items out of K–12 school meals on a multi-year timeline. 

This kind of policy marks a trend we’re noticing from more and more leaders who recognize the link between the quality of school meals and health outcomes for students.

STATE WINS WORTH REPLAYING

So many of this year’s wins came down to advocates working together to drive change in their communities.

• Arkansas passed a law to provide one free breakfast per school day to every student in participating public schools starting SY 2025–26. 
• Connecticut expanded local food funding for schools through the state’s budget to expand access to regionally grown foods in schools and early childcare settings.
• Delaware delivered universal free breakfast statewide, expanding access across schools ahead of the 2025–26 school year. 
• New York implemented Universal Free School Meals, requiring participating school food authorities to provide reimbursable meals at no cost to all students starting SY 2025–26. 
• Maine lawmakers advanced efforts to protect the state’s universal meals program and passed the Maine Experiential Education Program to fund food, farm, garden, and learning resources.
• Michigan continued funding for free school meals for all in its FY26 education budget, keeping a major statewide commitment intact. 
• Utah eliminated the reduced-price lunch category, so students who would have paid the reduced-price copay can now receive lunch at no cost starting SY 2025–26. 
• Colorado: Voters approved propositions to provide long-term funding for the state’s Healthy School Meals for All program to keep free breakfast and lunch available statewide instead of scaling the program back

UP NEXT

Now, we’re heading into 2026, and having just come out of the longest federal shutdown in U.S. history, we’re certain we’ll be busy advocating for child nutrition in the months ahead. As new federal and state legislation is introduced, we’ll flag how they’ll impact students, and provide action steps when advocacy is needed.  

Thanks for being a highlight of 2025. We’ll see you next year!

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