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(Westbury, NY) — Governor Kathy Hochul wants to grant free school meals to nearly three-million-students across the state. It’s all part of the governor’s State of the State initiative.
She made the announcement at Westbury Middle School on Long Island, which boasts the positive impact that universal free meals have had on students and families. The program includes free breakfast and lunch for every student at every school regardless of family income, and it’s expected to save families an average of 165-dollars on groceries every month for each child.
Hochul’s office did not include an estimate on how much the initiative would cost overall, though previous estimates have billed the program at around $280 million a year for the state.
The move is another flip flop for Hochul, who let proposals for universal free school lunches from the legislature die in state budget talks for at least the last two years. The governor admitted after her Friday announcement that the proposal has already been introduced in the legislature.
