School Meals – Virginia PTA

Healthy School Meals, Farm-To-School, and Food Security

Childhood hunger is linked to academic struggles, difficulties focusing and concentrating, mental health disorders, and increased behavioral referrals. School meals help close the nutrition gap that exists for low-income families and plays a critical role in youth dietary behaviors.

In Virginia 1.3 million students participate in the National School Lunch Program and 45.59% of our students are eligible for free or reduced price lunches. Research from the Northwestern Institute for Policy Research indicates that as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic Virginia’s food insecurity rose 12.5% to 22.5% (or more than one in five people) during the April-May 2020 timeframe. The negative impacts of COVID-19 – on school schedules, school budgets, employment, the economy, and food insecurity – will be long-lasting.

On average, a child will consume about one-third to one-half of their daily calories during the school day. It’s therefore critical that school meals programs be adequately funded, and modernized to improve access to high-quality, nutritious school meals for all children.

PTA Advocacy Impact

PTA has a long history of advocating for access to healthy nutritious meals for children. PTA advocacy resulted in the creation of hot school lunches in 1956. Today, we remain focused on increasing access to healthy, high quality school meals for all students. Our nationwide advocacy resulted in free school meals through the 2020 and 2021 school years.

State legislation that Virginia PTA advocated for in 2020 required eligible school divisions to participate in the Community Eligibility Program (CEP), which provides every student in high poverty schools and divisions with free breakfast and free lunch, while also reducing administrative costs and paperwork. In 2021 Virginia PTA advocacy helped expanded access to free after-school meals, reduced school lunch debt, and increased access to locally grown foods in school cafeterias. In 2022 Virginia PTA successfully advocated for extension of the federal free school meal waivers through summer 2022 including grab-and-go options and $8.2 million of state funding to help local school divisions eliminate the cost of school meals for students who are eligible for reduced-price meals based on federal income criteria.

Local school PTAs are working to introduce families to healthy eating and reduce food insecurity through family tasting nights, building partnerships with local food banks, and advocating at the School Board level for scratch-cooked meals, reduced wait times, salad bars, and transparent meal pricing.

PTA Advocacy Priorities:

Universal free school meals for all students and elimination of meal debt policies that shame or humiliate students
Farm to School programs and processing and procurement grants that enable more fresh, locally-grown, minimally processed whole foods to be served in school cafeterias
Speed-Scratch & Scratch cooking including kitchen equipment upgrades and staff training
Diverse Menus that recognize diverse student dietary needs, and cultural or regional cuisines.
School Garden funding, curriculum, and policies
Eliminate the sale of competitive foods in school cafeterias;
Wellness programs that provide families with helpful nutrition information;
School Meal Committees that provide a forum for students, parents, staff and interested community members to provide input on school meal programs

Take Action – Advocate for Healthy Meals

Start advocating for the students in your community by sharing information about how to access food assistance programs and reduce stigma about eating school meals.

During the 2025 General Assembly Session we’re advocating for:

Free Breakfast for All (HB1958/ SB1003): Eight states have already taken action to provide universal free school meals for all students. In Virginia 70% of students already receive free meals through the federal community eligibility program. Providing free breakfast would reduce stigma and paperwork while ensuring that all students have a healthy state to the school day. School Breakfast improves attendance, classroom behavior, focus, comprehension and test scores while reinforcing healthy eating habits.
Centralized Local Procurement Program ($3 million Budget Amendment): This program, started with a USDA grant has enabled 700 schools across 61 school divisions to purchase Virginia grown foods from more than 80 farmers through regional food hubs. This program provides a pathway for small farmers to access the school market, and enables school divisions to purchase at bulk quantities to serve all of their students.

Help #TakeAction4Kids and #ChildHungerPrevention by speaking at Board of Supervisor or School Board meetings, emailing your legislators, getting active on social media, writing letters to editor, joining a virtual rally or attend Virginia PTA’s Capitol Day.

Family Engagement Activities

Your PTA can create a focus on improving school meals, reducing food insecurity, and promoting a healthy lifestyle by appointing a Nutrition & Wellness Chair to your PTA Executive Board. Here’s some events you may like to consider.

Family Tasting Night: Partner with your Cafeteria Manager or a local chef to host a family tasting night with healthy eating ideas.
Family Cooking Class: Partner with a local chef to host a virtual cooking class to share food prep ideas and healthy recipes.
Food Drive/ Backpack Buddies: Partner with your School Social Worker or local food bank to host a food drive or start Backpack Buddies program that connects families with meals over weekends and school breaks. This is a great way to get students involved in giving back to your community.
School Garden: Start a school garden to create hands on learning opportunities and enable students to taste foods they grow.
Nature Trail: Create a nature trail around your school property with plants identified in several languages and a place for story time, art class, or reading.
Fitness Challenge: Create a monthly fitness challenge, or a month long challenge to get your community walking or running together.
Share Food Assistance Information: Sharing food assistance programs for SNAP and other state and federal food assistance programs helps improve resources for your school since many aid programs are based on federal food assistance eligibility programs. Consider sharing the free meal application at your Back to School events.

Toolkits for School Meal & Farm to School Activities

GET FOOD ASSISTANCE

Find a Virginia Food Bank
Apply for Assistance – Virginia Department of Social Services
Call the USDA National Hunger Hotline (1-877-8-HAMBRE). Available Monday – Friday from 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time. A representative can help you find food resources, such as food banks, meal sites, and other social services in your area.

The School Lunch Program does not require an individual to be a citizen or qualified alien. Immigration and refugee status is not collected as part of the application for free/reduced meals and it is illegal for the school nutrition office to share information from the school meal application without written consent from the parent/guardian.