Pennsylvania to adjust cutoff for free, reduced school meals
Families whose children receive free or reduced-price school meals in Pennsylvania public schools could see changes in their eligibility for the upcoming school year.
The changes are due to updated federal income guidelines announced earlier this month.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture adjusted the income thresholds used to determine eligibility for its free and reduced-price school meal programs, which provide breakfast and lunch assistance to millions of students nationwide. Under the updated guidelines, households must earn at or below 130% of the federal poverty level to qualify for free meals and at or below 185% of the federal poverty level to qualify for reduced-price meals.
Under the changes, for the 2026-27 school year, the income limits for free and reduced-price school meals increased slightly. Under the updated guidelines, a family of four can qualify for free school meals with an annual household income of $42,900 or less. The same family can qualify for reduced-price meals with an annual household income of $61,050 or less.
Those figures were raised slightly over the guidelines of $41,795 and $59,478 from last year.
Meanwhile, all public school districts in Pennsylvania are expected to continue offering free breakfast to all students, regardless of family income. Funding for universal free school breakfast was included in the 2026-27 Pennsylvania state budget signed into law Sunday, July 12, and has been a part of the budget since 2022.
The full table of eligibility guidelines can be found on the education department’s website.
The availability of free or reduced school meals may depend on the public school district in which your family is located and which programs the district participates in.
For instance, Butler Area School District participates in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program, allowing all students the ability to apply for free or reduced breakfast or lunch. In addition, six Butler Area schools — Broad Street Elementary, Emily Brittain Elementary, McQuistion Elementary, Northwest Elementary, Summit Elementary and Center Avenue Community School — provide 100% free lunch for all students through the USDA’s Community Eligibility Provision program.
According to Butler Area food service representative Brian Beauregard, 42% of students across the district were eligible for free school meals, while 2.8% were eligible for reduced-price meals.
“We did have an increase in lunch participation in the CEP schools by 1%,” Beauregard said. “However, there are less students overall who are eligible. We started the school year with 2,628 ‘free’ eligible students, but by the end of the year we were down to 2,372.”
Karns City Area School District also provides free lunch to all students in the school district through the Community Eligibility Provision.
“It allows us to provide a free lunch to all students, kindergarten through 12th grade,” said Karns City superintendent Eric Ritzert. “It is our desire as a district to try to continue to offer free lunch and free breakfast to all students, because we feel it's a great benefit to the students themselves.”
Seneca Valley School District participates in the National School Lunch Program. According to communications manager Ian Hunter, nearly a fifth of students across the district — 1,503 students in total — qualified for the program last year, with 160,505 free or reduced lunches served.
For Mars Area School District, only elementary students are eligible for free or reduced school lunches through the National School Lunch Program. Neither the middle nor high schools participate in the program. According to business manager Debbie Brandstetter, 185 elementary students participated in the program during the 2025-26 school year — less than 10% of the student population.
