Keep Kids Fed Act
7/11/2022
School nutrition professionals have worked tirelessly to get healthy food to children during COVID-19, and they will keep working hard to serve children healthy meals this coming school year. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, schools had some flexibilities so they could serve all kids free meals.
Some of those flexibilities and options expired on June 30, 2022.
The Keep Kids Fed Act will help child nutrition program operators across the country by:
Extending nationwide flexibilities to summer meal programs through September 2022, including allowing sites to continue serving meals in all areas, at no cost to families;
Providing schools with an additional temporary reimbursement of 40 cents per lunch and 15 cents per breakfast, and child care centers with an extra 10 cents reimbursement per meal;
Providing all family day care homes with the higher temporary reimbursement rate for school year 2022-23;
Equipping USDA with additional flexibilities to support schools, as needed, based on their local conditions.
Schools may consider the following options for the 2022-2023 school year:
Take applications and use family income to qualify kids for free, reduce-price, or paid meals.
Utilize a program called the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) that helps schools serve all meals free. The USDA has also extended the deadline for districts to participate in CEP.
Consider applying for a SY 2022-23 Child Nutrition Programs Waiver to extend current flexibilities and waivers. Through such waivers, schools and program operators will be equipped to quickly respond to health-related safety issues by offering grab-and-go and/or parent-pickup of meals.
For more information:
School Meal Changes are Coming in the 2022-2023 School Year