Those eligible for reduced-cost meals won’t need to submit an application to take advantage of free breakfast and lunch if HB 125 becomes law.
Students coming from financially disadvantaged families could soon all get free meals in Delaware schools.
House Bill 125, sponsored by Rep. Sherae’a Moore, D-Middletown, requires all public schools to offer a free breakfast and lunch every day to students who qualify for a reduced-price meal.
The bill, now officially styled as House Substitute Bill 2 for House Bill 125, is dramatically different from the first version.
The original bill received a lot of pushback in March – not for the cause, but because of the price tag of $120 million over the next three years.
Legislators on both sides of the aisle said that not every student needs a free meal. They argued that it shouldn’t be on the taxpayer and state to pay for meals for a student who comes from a family of means.
Despite those concerns, it moved out of committee and onto the House floor. The substitution reset its timeline and put it back into committee for another hearing.
In the new bill, student eligibility is consistent with the federal School Breakfast Program and National School Lunch Program.
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The substitute bill has a drastic change to the fiscal note, which is the financial impact on the state.
It dropped from $120 million to just $740,851 over the next three years.
The original bill had this financial breakdown:
- $38,866,149 ($8,475,484 for breakfast and $30,390,665 for lunch) in fiscal year 2025
- $40,665,131 ($8,806,214 for breakfast and $31,858,917 for lunch) in fiscal year 2026
- $42,558,736 ($9,184,993 for breakfast and $33,373,744 for lunch) in fiscal year 2027
The adopted substitute bill has this fiscal impact:
- $242,077 ($64,266 for breakfast and $177,810 for lunch) in fiscal year 2025
- $246,918 ($65,551 for breakfast and $181,367 for lunch) in fiscal year 2026
- $251,856 ($66,862 for breakfast and $184,994 for lunch) in fiscal year 2027
Originally, all students, whether eligible for a reduced-price meal or not, were included in the legislation.
The legislators in the House Appropriations Committee members thanked Moore Wednesday for her extensive bipartisan work on the bill, and a representative from ChristianaCare testified the agency’s support.
HB 125 now is on its way to the House floor.
Raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, Jarek earned a B.A. in journalism and a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 2021. After running CNN’s Michael Smerconish’s YouTube channel, Jarek became a reporter for the Bucks County Herald before joining Delaware LIVE News.
Jarek can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at (215) 450-9982. Follow him on Twitter @jarekrutz
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