SAN FRANCISCO -- When classrooms in California reopen for the fall term, all 6.2 million public school students will have the option to eat school meals for free, regardless of their family’s income. The undertaking, made possible by an unexpected budget surplus, will be the largest free student lunch program in the country. Several U.S. cities including New York, Boston and Chicago already offer free school meals for all. Like school officials statewide, Primer has countless tales of children who struggled to pay for school meals or were too ashamed to eat for free. “I thought it was a pipe dream for a long time,” said Sen. Nancy Skinner, a longtime advocate for universal free meals.

Source: ABC News July 19, 2021 13:41 UTC