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School Nutrition Eligibility for Households
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Overview and Resources
Reduced-price-eligible students will continue to receive breakfast at no charge and will now also receive lunches for free in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years.
Background
The 89th Texas Legislature approved funding as part of the General Appropriations Act so that students who qualify for reduced-price school meals can eat breakfast and lunch at no charge for the next two years. Note that state funding for reduced-price lunches will not be available for lunches served prior to September 1, 2025.
Texas School Responsibilities
- Communicate the benefit change for reduced price breakfasts and lunches to students to parents. This includes making changes to the Eligibility and Determination letter sent to parents.
- Determine how reduced-price lunches will be charged/funded prior to September 1, 2025. Schools can continue to charge students up to $0.40 per lunch prior to September 1 or serve those lunches for free, using excess food service account funds or non-Program funds to offset the costs. Districts should communicate the policy clearly to families.
- Update point-of-service (POS) systems and other methods of charging students for meals to ensure reduced-price students are no longer charged for breakfast and lunch.
- Enter monthly claims in TX-UNPS, including the number of reduced-price breakfasts and lunches served.
What Food Programs Are Available for Households with School-Age Children?
| Determine If You're Eligible
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Qualified school-age students from low-income households may receive nutritious meals through programs managed by the Food and Nutrition Division at the Texas Department of Agriculture.
Two programs provide no cost and reduced-price meals at schools:
Summer Meal Programs offer no cost breakfast and/or lunch during summer.
Not all schools participate in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Programs. Some schools operate their own programs separate from TDA and USDA. Be sure to check with your school to determine what programs they operate.
FAQ for Households - Use the + Button to Expand Each Section
Elimination of Reduced-Price Breakfast and Lunch Costs
The 89th Texas Legislature is providing funding that reimburses schools for serving breakfasts and lunches to reduced-price eligible students for free. This funding is available for breakfasts served for the entirety of School Year 2025-2026 and 2026-2027.
Reimbursement for lunches served to reduced-price eligible students will not begin until September 1, 2025, and will continue through the entirety of School Year 2026-2027.
Please review the following questions for guidance and instructions on how to participate.
1. Why is funding available for reduced-price breakfasts for the entirety of School Year 2025-2026, but funding for reduced-price lunches is not available for lunches served prior to September 1?
Funding for reduced-price breakfasts was already allocated through August 31, 2025, via previously passed legislation. The additional funding for reduced-price lunches was only enacted in the most recent legislative session and is not available until September 1, 2025.
2. Must we charge students for reduced-price lunches served during August?
No. School districts may elect to serve reduced-price lunches for free in August using Child Nutrition Program (CNP) funds or other sources to offset the costs of the meals. Conversely, schools may charge up to $0.40 maximum per lunch during August if CNP funds are not available to implement this program in August. Note that these prices must be communicated to families.
3. How much is the per-breakfast and per-lunch reimbursement?
For each reduced-price breakfast claimed during SY 2025-2026 and SY 2026-2027, schools will be reimbursed the amount they would have normally charged students for reduced-price breakfast as indicated in the school’s site application, up to a maximum of $0.30 per meal.
Beginning for lunches served on September 1, 2025, and continuing through the end of SY 2026-2027, schools will be reimbursed the amount they would have normally charged students for reduced-price lunch as indicated in the school’s site application, up to a maximum of $0.40 per meal.
4. What are the allowable uses of this State-provided reimbursement?
Reimbursement provided by the State to offset the costs of eliminating reduced-price breakfast and lunch is considered program income and thus must accrue back to the nonprofit food service account. The same regulations and restrictions that apply to money received from a paying student also apply to this State-provided reimbursement.
5. If my school was planning to charge less than $0.30 for reduced-price breakfast and/or less than $0.40 for reduced-price lunch, can I increase my price on the site application to receive the maximum reimbursement?
Yes. Keep in mind that the money received as a reimbursement must accrue to the nonprofit food service account. If you were charging lower prices or already planning to serve reduced-price meals for free to reduce an excess fund balance, consideration should be given before adjusting prices upward within the application.
6. If my school was already planning to offer breakfasts and/or lunches for free to reduced-price-eligible students and has no interest in receiving money from the State to offset costs, can we opt out?
Yes. The supplemental reimbursement for reduced-price breakfasts and lunches is based on the price listed in the site application. If you do not wish to receive this State-provided reimbursement for reduced-price breakfasts and/or lunches served for free, simply list $0.00 for the cost of the applicable reduced-price meal(s) within the application.
NOTE: Unless you operate a school mandated to offer Universal Breakfast for free to all students (see next question), if your site application shows $0.00 in the site for any meal at the time reimbursements are processed, TDA will not provide reimbursement for those meals, and payments will not be retroactively issued for rates entered in error and effective the date that reimbursements are issued.
7. If I am offering Universal Breakfast to ALL students, either through a mandate from the State or by choice, am I eligible to receive this reimbursement?
Yes. However, schools offering Universal Breakfast (breakfasts served free to all students) must continue to show $0.00 for both the paid and reduced-price costs within the site application, as TX-UNPS will not allow a listed reduced-price cost to exceed the price of a paid breakfast. TDA will automatically provide $0.30 per reduced-price breakfast claimed to all schools offering Universal Breakfast, either through mandate or by choice.
NOTE: Only schools mandated to offer Universal Breakfast should list $0.00 in the site application for breakfast if they wish to receive the additional reimbursement. All other schools will be reimbursed based on the rates entered in the site application.
8. Am I allowed to continue as normal and charge students for reduced-price breakfasts?
No. If you wish to accept money to offset the costs of reduced-price meals, you must not charge students for these meals and instead accept the money available from the State. The 2025 Texas Legislature appropriated state funds to provide free breakfast to qualified students who otherwise would have been charged a reduced price. Consistent with legislative direction, TDA will automatically reimburse schools based on the prices listed on the site application. Districts must not charge for these meals to avoid unallowable double reimbursement.
9. If my school is operating the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2, is it eligible for this reimbursement?
No. Schools that elected to operate under a special provision are already serving all meals for free and are thus not entitled to the State-provided reimbursement.
10. How should I adjust student eligibility status and meal pricing within my Point of Service (POS) system once I start offering meals for free to reduced-price eligible students?
It is very important that your POS is identifying each student based on their determined eligibility status – free, reduced, or paid. Do NOT change the status of reduced-price students to free. However, to avoid clerical errors or inadvertent negative balances, you must ensure that the price of all reduced-price meals is listed as $0.00 within the POS, even though your site application will still reflect the amount you would have normally charged for a reduced-price meal.
11. How will the elimination of reduced-price breakfast and lunch costs affect counting, claiming, and the standard federal reimbursement?
Counting and claiming will not be affected. As noted above, all meals served to students must be claimed based on each student’s respective eligibility status. TDA will process claims as normal within the regulatory timeframes. The State-provided reimbursement will be processed separately from the federal reimbursement and will be distributed 60 days after each claim submission.
12. What are the notification requirements to parents about the availability of free meals for reduced-price-eligible students?
The Eligibility Determination templates on SquareMeals that are sent to the families of reduced-price-eligible students allow districts to enter the cost of the reduced-price meal. If offering reduced-price breakfasts and/or lunches for free the entire year, simply enter a cost of $0.00.
If charging students for reduced-price lunches in August at the beginning of SY 2025-2026, you will need to modify the template to indicate the different prices for August and the rest of the school year.
If you have already sent out eligibility letters that do not reflect the availability of no-cost reduced-price meals, you do not need to send out another eligibility determination letter, but you must still notify the families of the price change via new correspondence.
13. How do CEs identify the Reduced-Price Breakfast and Lunch Payments when received?Schools eligible for Reduced-Priced Breakfast and Lunch State GR match payments will receive monthly payments issued by TDA (agency # 551). You can check the Comptroller’s website for your payments.
- The invoice description for the Reduced-Price Breakfast State GR matches will indicate “RP-SBP School Name.” The invoice number will indicate RP-SBP Claim Month/Year CE ID#
- The invoice description for the Reduced-Price Lunch State GR matches will indicate “RP-NSLP School Name.” The invoice number will indicate RP-NSLP Claim Month/Year CE ID#
Acronyms:
RP = Reduced Price
SBP= School Breakfast Program
NSLP= National School Lunch Program
Are my children eligible for no cost or reduced-price meals through their school?
Your children may qualify for no cost or reduced-price meals if your household income is within the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines, which are based on federal poverty guidelines. You can use the School Nutrition Program Income Eligibility Form to the right to see if your children qualify based on income.
Your children may also qualify for no cost or reduced-price meals if your household or children in your home participate in certain assistance programs:
- All children in the household are eligible if any person in the household receives Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP or food stamps) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF or welfare) benefits.
- Individual children may qualify if the child in your household is a foster child under the legal responsibility of the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) or a court.
- Individual children may qualify if the child is a student enrolled in Head Start, is homeless or a runaway, or is a member of a migrant family.
If you do not currently qualify, any change in employment status or participation in one of the programs listed above may cause all children or some children in the household to be eligible for no cost or reduced-price meals. If that occurs, you may submit a new application based on the change of circumstances.
Summer Meal Programs
In addition, Summer Meal Programs are open to all kids and teens 18 and under at locations across Texas. Meals and snacks are also available to persons with disabilities, over age 18, who participate in school programs for people who are mentally or physically disabled. Find a site near you here.
What is the definition of a household and how does it affect my eligibility?
A household is defined as a group of related or unrelated individuals who are not residents of an institution or boarding house but who are living as one economic unit. This means they generally reside in the same house and share expenses such as rent, utilities and food.
For example, if a parent and child are living with the child’s grandparent, the grandparent’s income would be considered as part of the household income in determining if the child meets the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines.
In the case of joint custody where the child physically changes residence, the child is considered part of the household where he/she resides. If both parents apply for benefits under the same local education agency for the child and different eligibility statues result, the greatest benefit level is used. For example, if the mother’s situation results in eligibility for no cost meals but the father’s application is denied, the child would receive no cost meals regardless of which parent had custody at the time.
What items are included as part of a school lunch or breakfast and do my children have
to select everything offered?
Schools meals are required to meet specific nutrition standards for a site to operate a school meal program.
Students may decline to take any food item served to them. This includes the meals elementary and middle school students receive that are pre-plated. However, if a student declines to take certain food items, the meal may not qualify as a no cost or reduced-price meal.
High school students must be given a choice of food items—not pre-plated meals. This choice allows the students to take or decline food items they do not intended to eat. However, if a student does not take certain food items, the meal may not qualify as a no cost or reduced-price meal.
The school will place signs in the meal service area, so students will know what items they need to take for a meal to qualify as a no cost or reduced-price meal. Schools also have the option to give elementary and middle school students a choice of food items instead of pre-plated meals.
Are schools required to make menu substitutions for children who cannot eat the regular
lunch or breakfast?
National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program are required to make reasonable accommodations for children who are unable to eat the meal as prepared. This requirement applies when the household provides a medical statement from a medical practitioner indicating the child has a medical disability that requires a meal modification. Meal modifications include, but are not limited to, offering different food items, special diets, and food texture modifications to individual food items.
Schools are not required to provide meal accommodations for non-disability reasons. However, a school may do so as long as the school provides the same accommodation to all students. Information about the school allowing these types of modifications must be provided to all households.
Contact your local school or school district for more information on the process the school uses to provide accommodations. Please note, a school may have a special form for this purpose.
How do I apply for food help for school-age children?
Submit an application with your school. You can do this at the beginning of the school year or any time your circumstances/income changes.
Are there other programs my household may qualify for?
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Assistance available in English and Spanish. Please call 877-TEX-MEAL (877-839-6325) for help. Additional translations services available as well.
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In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.
Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.
To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/ad-3027.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:
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1. Mail:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
1400 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or
2. Fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or
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