California 25–26 State Budget Invests $2B in School Nutrition

Learn about our successful advocacy for School Meals for All, Farm to School, and More

lunch tray held by student

At the Center for Ecoliteracy, we advocate for free, fresh, locally-sourced school meals for kids. Our focus is in California, but our advocacy extends nationally to other states and the federal level. In California, we achieved our advocacy priorities for the School Meals for All, Farm to School, and Kitchen Infrastructure and Training programs. We are incredibly proud of this success. New research shows that household food insecurity is 12% lower in states with free school meal programs. The Center for Ecoliteracy's advocacy and California’s continued commitment to providing kids with more access to freshly-prepared, locally-sourced breakfast and lunch at school are making a difference. Below, we offer a detailed breakdown of the state investment of over $2 billion in California school nutrition programs.

 

School Meals for All

$1.93 billion for School Meals for All, which provides free breakfast and lunch at school for California's 5.8 million TK–12 students:

  • Provides an additional $90.7 million compared to last year’s budget to accommodate increased student participation — the state projects serving 1 billion school meals in the 2025–2026 school year.

  • Includes a $1.0015 per meal state reimbursement to accommodate higher costs of food and labor in California.

  • Complements $2.95 billion in federal funding California receives to operate the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.

 

Kitchen Infrastructure and Training

$145 million for Kitchen Infrastructure and Training program (KIT), which supports school nutrition professionals with training and equipment to serve more freshly-prepared, locally-sourced school meals:

  • For the first time, the KIT program offers schools the flexibility to purchase California-grown food for school meals. 

  • The 2025 KIT program will be a competitive grant. 

  • The expenditure deadline for the 2022 KIT program was extended to June 2026.

 

Farm to School

$24.9 million for farm to school, supporting students and California farmers with the following investments: 

  • $20 million for the Farm to School Incubator Grant Program to provide fresh, healthy food for our students, build stable markets for our farmers, and support thriving local economies.

  • $3 million for climate-smart ag technical assistance to train farmers on climate-smart agricultural practices, food safety, and relevant production practices for the school food market.

  • $1.9 million for the Office of Farm to Fork to increase opportunities for outreach, engagement, and training for farm to school stakeholders.

 

Complementary Investments in the School Nutrition Workforce

Thanks to the advocacy of our partners at the Chef Ann Foundation, NextGen California, and the Office of Kat Taylor, the state budget also included the following investments in school nutrition professionals: 

  • $10 million for the Chef Ann Foundation Healthy School Food Pathways Program.

  • $10 million for a new competitive grant program to support the retention and recruitment of school nutrition professionals. 

 

Thank You to Our Partners

We share these advocacy achievements with our partners. The Center for Ecoliteracy co-leads the School Meal for All Coalition with the California Association of Food Banks, NextGen California, and the Office of Kat Taylor. Together, we built a coalition of over 130 organizations to advocate for School Meals for All and Kitchen Infrastructure and Training. We also partnered with NextGen California to build a coalition of 79 organizations in support of Farm to School. 

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July 8 2025
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