Students in Pennsylvania will receive free school breakfast this school year as part of a $21.5 million plan announced by Gov. Tom Wolf.
The free meals, which will begin at the start of next month and run through the end of the school year, will be available to over 1.7 million students.
Funding for the program comes from the state’s School Food Services General Fund appropriation from the prior year.
The program’s announcement comes shortly after Pennsylvania senator Lindsey Williams shared that she would introduce a bill to make school lunch free for all students in the state.
Many states are taking steps to ensure all students have access to free school meals after the pandemic-era nutrition waivers that allowed all students to receive meals at no cost expired earlier this summer.