Students at 76 Austin ISD elementary, middle and high schools will get free breakfast and lunch during the 2025-2026 school year.
The meals are provided through the Community Eligibility Provision, a federally funded program that provides free food to schools in low-income areas. Families don’t need to submit an application or prove their documentation status.
Students who attend schools that aren’t getting free meals can or reduced lunch at any point in the year.
A list of the schools getting free meals is available on .
Ryan Mikolaycik, the executive director of food and warehouse operations at AISD, said the school-wide aspect of the program reduces the stigma surrounding kids who do get free meals and those who don’t. It also ensures everyone has enough to eat to succeed in school.
“When you’re hungry you can’t really focus,� Mikolaycik said. “So when kids have breakfast and they have lunch, their ability to focus goes up. Their test scores go up.�
AISD has been providing free meals to roughly the same amount of schools in the district for years. But , including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid, could mean significantly less schools qualify in the 2026-2027 school year.
“This is one of the programs that is pretty much 100% reliant on students being eligible for state benefits,� said Lindsey Bradley, the district's food service marketing specialist. “That’s how schools qualify, is their percentage of students qualifying for programs like SNAP and Medicaid. So we know those changes will impact it down the road.�
Mikolaycik said AISD will continue providing free meals in some capacity regardless of federal funding cuts. The difference is more families will likely have to apply for free or reduced meals instead of getting them automatically.
