What will happen to our students if they no longer have access to the free breakfast and lunch programs provided by the state legislature? This is the essential question that Michiganders have been asking themselves recently.

   On October 1st, 2025, the state of Michigan will officially enter a government shutdown if a budget to fund the state is not agreed upon, which means that all non-essential social programs will be inoperative. This includes the free meal programs, which are available to every Michigan student as of the 2024-2025 school year.

   According to a press release from the Michigan Department of Education (michigan.gov/mde), the number of students eating lunches climbed by 140,000 once free meal programs were introduced, and breakfasts by 100,000. In the release, Michigan’s Governor, Gretchen Whitmer, stated, “In Michigan, all 1,400,000 public school students can eat free breakfast and lunch at school, saving their families more than $850 a year on groceries, per kid.” Additionally, Michigan schools ordered more than 8,000,000 cases of food from Gordon Food Service in Michigan, indicating that social services like these not only benefit students but also support the businesses that help our state thrive.

   “There’s a lot of talk about wanting to cut what is considered to be wasteful government spending . . . but I think that for the amount that the school lunch program actually costs and the good outcomes I see from it I think it’s something that is worth maintaining,” said Abby Tanner, a devoted lifelong educator who teaches a variety of history courses at Northwest High School. 

   Before the state of Michigan implemented its own universal meals policies, it operated off of the federally funded National School Lunch Program (NSLP), which was signed into law on June 4, 1946, by then-President Harry S. Truman, and aimed to provide price-reduced or free lunches to students under a specific income threshold.

   “Also, I think that previously, when it was only certain students who were on the free and reduced lunch list, there was a stigma attached to being the kid getting a free lunch, and so kids wouldn’t get lunch cause they didn’t want people to know ‘I get free lunch because my family has a lower income.’ Now, when everybody’s getting free lunch, you just go get lunch and there’s no stigma attached to it, and now we have kids that are fed, you know, and no lunch debts, that’s the other part,” said Tanner.

   The number of students receiving free meals increased to 867,000 in the 2024-2025 school year, a notable rise from 723,000 in the first year of the program alone.

   “I know there are definitely less fortunate kids and families that may not be able to pack lunches from home or even send money for kids to get the food the school provides,” said freshman Bristyn Parker, a class representative at Northwest High School.

   Overall, the Michigan state legislature’s uncertainty when it comes to passing a budget that allows students to receive universal free meals in schools will not only affect most students but also businesses that provide the schools with lunch.