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Hochul Unveils Universal Free School Meals Program Across New York

The governor also wants to make some community college programs free. But she didn鈥檛 touch the thorniest issue: the school funding formula.

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul delivers her State of the State speech at the Empire State Plaza Convention Center in Albany, New York on January 14, 2025. (Getty Images)

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New York state鈥檚 2.7 million students may soon have access to free school breakfast and lunch if a proposal by Governor Kathy Hochul makes it through this session鈥檚 budget negotiations.

Nearly children in New York were food insecure in 2022 鈥 up significantly from 鈥 and research shows that students underperform when they are hungry, the governor said during her on Tuesday.

鈥淚t pains me as a mom to think of little kids鈥 stomachs growling while they鈥檙e in school while they鈥檙e supposed to be learning,鈥 Hochul said. 鈥淚n the wealthiest country in the world, this can no longer be tolerated.鈥

Senator Michelle Hinchey and Assemblymember Jessica Gonz谩lez-Rojas have been pushing for a universal school meal program for the last three years, but the full proposal never made it through . The legislature did, however, provide funding to cover up to 90 percent of students, according to a representative from Gonz谩lez-Rojas鈥檚 office

New York City, Albany, Rochester and Yonkers have their own universal free school meal programs. With President-elect Donald Trump for school meals, a state program could fill in the remaining gaps.

Hochul estimated that free breakfast and lunch could save families as much as $1,600 per child per year. For the 2025-26 school year, the program is expected to cost $340 million, according to the governor鈥檚 office.

Among her other education-focused policy proposals, Hochul is also pushing to make community college free for students who enter certain fields, including teaching and nursing. The governor has also indicated that, as part of her executive budget, she will propose legislation to curb the use of smartphones at school, a move she has been considering for months.

Conspicuously absent from Hochul鈥檚 speech was any mention of , which the state uses to distribute the majority of funding to schools. During last year鈥檚 State of the State, she noted that New York had set aside for the program, fully funding it for the first time since its implementation in 2007.

Last year, the state legislature also gave $2 million to the Rockefeller Institute to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the formula and suggest ways to improve it. The think tank released its final report in December, providing a list of recommendations that the governor and legislature can choose to implement 鈥 or not 鈥 during this year鈥檚 budget negotiations.

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