USDA will increase funding for breakfast, lunch, summer programs starting July 1
Posted: February 9, 2023
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Tuesday that Hawaiʻiʻs reimbursement rate for federal child nutrition programs will be increased temporarily by 13 percent, bringing an additional $8 million to the state for child meal programs.
The new rate, which is 30 percent higher than the continental U.S., will apply to all child meal programs in Hawaiʻi, including the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and the Summer Food Service Program. The increased rate will take effect July 1.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz (D) led efforts to increase school meal funding in Hawaiʻi. He wrote the USDA a letter asking for a temporary increase in the national average payment rate to Hawai‘i while the department completes a years-long study to update its severely outdated cost estimates.
“This increase is a big win for kids across Hawai‘i and for our state,” Schatz said. “The school meals program feeds around 100,000 students every week, and we deserve our fair share of federal funding to support it. I thank the USDA for working with us to boost Hawai‘i’s funding so that students who rely on the program can continue to get the healthy meals they need to succeed in school.”
USDA Food and Nutrition Service Administrator Cindy Long said that over the long term, the department is striving to “capture more local cost data to inform future reimbursement rates.”
“The input from Senator Schatz’s office and other offices in the Hawai‘i Congressional Delegation—as well as from the Hawai‘i State Department of Education and local stakeholders—has been especially helpful to this effort. We hope these increased reimbursement rates help Hawai‘i grow a more resilient local food system,” she added.
In addition to Hawaiʻi, the USDA announced it would also increase child nutrition program reimbursement rates for Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands; an increase that totals more than $30 million a year for all four jurisdictions.