Food and Nutrition Programs

National School Lunch Program

What is the National School Lunch Program?

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federally assisted meal program operating in nearly 95,000 public and nonprofit private schools and residential childcare institutions across the United States. It provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to more than 29 million children each school day. In Massachusetts these meals are provided at no cost to all students regardless of eligibility. The Commonwealth has prioritized ensuring every student has access to healthy school meals by providing additional funding through the state budget every year.

Fun facts about school lunch!

  • The National School Lunch Act was signed by President Harry Truman in 1946.
  • Massachusetts made school lunch and breakfast permanently free for all students in school year 2022-2023.
  • Boston Public Schools was an early adopter of school meals and started serving hot lunches to high school students in1908!

How do local organizations participate in the National School Lunch Program?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), through its Food and Nutrition Service, administers the program at the Federal level. At the State level, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) operates the program through agreements with local school districts. School districts and independent schools that choose to take part in the lunch program receive cash reimbursement and donated commodity assistance from USDA for each meal they serve. In return, they must serve lunches that meet Federal nutrition requirements. In Massachusetts they must offer free breakfast and lunch to all students and qualify students for free and reduced price eligibility. Participating schools can be public, private, charter or residential childcare institutions. DESE performs administrative reviews which comprehensively evaluate participating School Food Authorities (SFA) to ensure they comply with NSLP requirements.

Learn more about the NSLP:

What are the nutritional requirements for school lunch?

Meals served as part of the National School Lunch Program must follow high nutritional and food safety standards. School lunch meal patterns are based upon independent, expert recommendations from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans advisory committee. This committee is overseen by The Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture. All meals served:

  • Ensure students are offered both fruits and vegetables every school day;
  • Increase offerings of whole grain-rich foods;
  • Offer a variety of milk;
  • Set calories based on the grade groups of children being served to ensure proper portion size;
  • Sets weekly limits on saturated fat, added sugars, and sodium

USDA has made a commitment to improve the nutritional quality of all school meals. The Department works with state and local school food authorities through the Nutrition Education and Training Program and Team Nutrition initiative to teach and motivate children to make healthy food choices, and to provide school food service staff with training and technical support.

USDA resources:

Massachusetts Specific:

What does it mean to qualify for free and reduced price meals when meals are offered at no cost?

Participating Massachusetts schools offer their students meals at no cost, but must still qualify their students for free and reduced price meals to maximize federal funding for the program. Meals of free and reduced price qualifying students are reimbursed at higher rates than students who don't meet eligibility requirements. Children from families with incomes at or below 130 percent of the poverty level are considered qualified for free meals. Those between 130 percent and 185 percent of the poverty level are considered qualified for reduced-price meals. Students can also be qualified by being in certain categories. These include:

  • Living in a household receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits
  • Living in a household receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
  • Is in foster care
  • Homeless
  • Part of a Migrant Education Program (MEP)

These students automatically qualify for free school meal eligibility. In addition to helping fund school meals, qualifying students for school meal benefits can provide additional benefits for families. Qualifying for free or reduced price eligibility can be used by families to access discounts on school based programs that charge fees. This can include transportation, athletics and standardized testing fee waivers (ask at your child's school for details). Families who qualify for free and reduced price meals are also eligible for Sun Bucks , which provides money for groceries during the summer months when school is out.

Children from families with incomes over 185 percent of the poverty level can still access meals at no cost, but are not considered eligible for free or reduced price school meals. Their meals receive a smaller subsidy from the federal government and Massachusetts provides the rest.

What Financial Reimbursement and Resources Do Schools Who Serve Meals in the NSLP Receive?

  • Cash Reimbursement: Most of the support USDA and the Commonwealth provides to schools in the National School Lunch Program comes in the form of a cash reimbursement for each meal served.
    • Federal Funds: USDA reimburses meals served to students at three different rates according to student eligibility for free, reduced price or paid.
    • Commonwealth Funds: Massachusetts reimburses meals served to students counted in the reduced price and paid categories in the amount equal to what USDA provides in the free rate, thus allowing all students to access healthy school meals at no cost.
  • USDA Foods Assistance: Schools can receive additional program resources in the form of food purchases utilizing entitlement funds. USDA purchases commodities directly from American farmers and makes these foods available for use in school meal programs. This ensures schools have access to American produced agricultural products which supports American agriculture and Child Nutrition Programs.

Eligible schools participate in the Community Eligibility Provision of the NSLP. This special provision can reduce administrative burden for schools and support the Commonwealth's funding of universal free school meals by providing a greater share of the reimbursement for school meals though Federal funds than traditional NSLP schools.

Additional information can be found on:

Last Updated: March 11, 2026

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