That lifeline is more fragile than people realize. Last summer, Congress made devastating cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, causing nearly 5 million Americans 鈥� including an estimated 鈥� to lose their benefits. In doing so, those children lost their automatic eligibility for free school meals. Access to free meals is also now threatened for entire school districts in high poverty areas. This is a crisis hiding in plain sight, and as kids return to the classroom, it is hitting families and schools hard.

Families participating in SNAP or Medicaid in most states automatically receive free school meals without needing to apply. When that link breaks, as it has now, kids feel it first. Parents may not find out their child has lost free meals until an unexpected notice from school arrives, or their child comes home owing lunch money they don鈥檛 have. 

In many high poverty school districts, all students are able to eat free meals through the Community Eligibility Provision. Last school year, in our nation鈥檚 highest need neighborhoods attended public schools offering meals through CEP. A school鈥檚 eligibility, as well as its ability to financially sustain the program, is largely determined by the percentage of students who are participating in SNAP or Medicaid. Which means as more kids lose access to these programs, fewer districts would be able to qualify for CEP, hurting the children and families most at risk of hunger.

We鈥檝e already seen the first round of consequences as several school districts have curtailed participation in the program. That includes , the nation鈥檚 third largest school district, which ended districtwide participation this school year because too many children had been cut from SNAP and Medicaid. School districts qualify for and opt into CEP once every four years, so we can expect the full effects of these cuts to crystallize over the next few years. 

Access to free meals is at risk in other ways, too. Nine states 鈥� including New York, California and Michigan 鈥� use to bolster federal funding and offer universal school meals at no cost to families. If federal funding for meals continues to drop, states will have to chip in money they simply do not have. With costly new funding requirements for SNAP also set to hit state budgets in the coming months, legislators will be forced to choose which nutrition programs to fund and which to cut.

At the same time, groceries are getting more expensive. For families navigating the affordability crisis, losing access to free school meals means being one car payment or one utility bill closer to hunger. In from my organization, nearly three in five low-income parents reported that their child wouldn鈥檛 have enough to eat without school meals. Nearly three in four reported that without free or reduced-price school meals, it would be difficult for them to afford their child鈥檚 school supplies.

Families who never expected to struggle are feeling the squeeze. Households at all income levels are putting grocery bills on , and this year, nearly opened a new credit card or increased their credit limit to afford back- to-school shopping.

Parents make these sacrifices because they know kids learn best when they鈥檙e nourished. Kids with reliable access to have better attendance, fewer behavior issues, and stronger academic performance. Our polling also found that 85% of lower-income parents believe that school meals help their child excel at school and 65% report these meals motivate their child to attend school regularly. 

When Congress voted to slash SNAP last summer, Americans didn鈥檛 see school meals on the chopping block. But that鈥檚 exactly what happened, all as a result of cuts to a program Americans support. New from the Program for Public Consultation found that a majority of Democrats (88%) and Republicans (70%) believe that SNAP benefits should be increased. 

Congress is out of step with the American public. Instead of protecting kids, it is taking away access to the nutrition they need at home and at school. They can change course: As members of Congress debate the Farm Bill and other legislative packages, they must support policies to reverse, or at the very least delay, these harmful cuts. Kids’ biggest worries as they return to school should be whether they completed their summer reading, not whether they鈥檒l have enough to eat. It鈥檚 time Congress took that assignment seriously.

And while just 19 states now offer taxpayer-supported , which allow families to spend public funds on the school or program of their choice, the policy has a growing constituency: Nearly half of parents strongly support it. 

Meanwhile, the constituency for annual testing is withering, with just 29% of parents saying they strongly support it.

The new revelations come from the second edition of , conducted by the policy group 50CAN, which operates chapters in 12 states. It surveyed parents in 50 states and Washington, D.C., and found small but significant improvements across five key educational areas, including satisfaction with school quality and student mental health support.聽

The findings paint a slightly different picture than the one we鈥檙e accustomed to seeing in accounts of crowding into school board meetings: 47% of parents now say they鈥檙e very satisfied with their child’s school, up from 45% in 2024. Satisfaction by low-income parents jumped five points, from 41% to 46%. 

Likewise, 41% are very satisfied with the kind of emotional and mental health support their children get at school, up four points from last year, with significant gains in critical transition grades such as sixth and ninth grade, both up about five percentage points. 

鈥淥verall, my takeaway is we shouldn’t get distracted by all the headlines, all the crazy stuff going on in the world,鈥� said Marc Porter Magee, 50CAN鈥檚 founder. 鈥淲e have a very reasonable shot at making education better in ways that will meaningfully improve kids鈥� lives. We’re generally heading in the right direction.鈥�

Among the findings: 

• Participation in tutoring rose from 19% to 24%, with the income gap nearly cut in half, from nine percentage points to five, but low-income families still struggle to get their kids tutoring, largely because of cost and transportation;
• 86% of parents now favor free tutoring, while 80% support free summer camps; 77% back open enrollment and universal ESAs;
• 49% of parents want their children to get a four-year degree, but only 38% believe it鈥檒l happen, with college affordability a huge sticking point; 
• While more high-income children participated in summer camp, overall participation dropped two percentage points; among low-income kids, it dropped three points; kids from high-income families are now twice as likely to attend, 61% vs 27%.

On the summer camp statistics, Porter Magee said, 鈥淢y takeaway from that is there’s still a need, and high-income families are really leaning into that. But low-income families are getting hit with affordability.鈥�

Responding to the findings, Keri Rodrigues, president of the , said, 鈥淧arents are fighting for a school that works for their kid, but when higher-income families can buy tutoring and summer learning while everyone else gets waitlists and paperwork, that鈥檚 not choice, it鈥檚 rationing.鈥�

She noted that the union鈥檚 polling shows that just 48% of public school parents say their child is 鈥渄efinitely academically prepared for next year鈥�; 31% say schools didn鈥檛 even tell them what skills their child needs.

As for satisfaction with mental health support, a 2024 found that 65% give schools an 鈥淎鈥� or 鈥淏,鈥� but that 31% give schools a 鈥淐鈥� or worse. 

She said her group鈥檚 findings on parents鈥� priorities are clear: 鈥淢ake tutoring, mental health supports, and quality learning time universal and easy to access, especially for low-income families. If we鈥檙e serious about outcomes, we have to be serious about access.鈥�

ESA support rising across political lines

Among the most significant findings, parents across the political spectrum are now increasingly interested in ESAs 鈥� 46% of Republicans, 49% of Democrats and 43% of Libertarians and Independents say they 鈥渟trongly support鈥� the idea, and among self-described members of the Green Party or , support climbs higher, to 57%. In most state-level debates on ESAs, political conservatives are their biggest supporters.

ESAs, as well as open-enrollment policies, which allows students to attend the public school of their choice, now command more support than charter schools, and by a wide margin: 46% to 36%.

Porter Magee said ESAs merit attention as an 鈥渁nti-majoritarian鈥� school choice policy that appeals to many different kinds of parents, for different reasons.

鈥淚f you’re on the far left, you probably don’t feel like your traditional public school and school district represents you and your values perfectly,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd it’s the same when you’re on the far right. A lot of times, the people who are most attached to traditional school districts are moderates 鈥� wealthy, suburban moderates. So it kind of does make sense.鈥� 

Porter Magee said he knows of no other parent polls that break out political beliefs like this, suggesting that conservative policymakers who favor ESAs and other school choice proposals should consider 鈥渁 strange-bedfellow strategy鈥� that invites Green and DSA-aligned parents. 鈥淢aybe they are better allies on some of these issues than we think.鈥�

More broadly, he said, 鈥淲e should not be writing off the left or the right when we’re trying to figure out the coalition that would actually pass these things.鈥�

Kids who are 鈥榡ust not doing a lot鈥�

The survey also broke out responses by about 1,000 parents who are K-12 teachers. It found that they鈥檙e significantly more likely to be very satisfied with their children鈥檚 school, and that their kids participate in summer programs, sports, community service, dual enrollment, and Advanced Placement/International Baccalaureate courses at higher rates. 鈥淭hey’re just more engaged,鈥� Porter Magee said. 鈥淭hey’re getting more out of their time as students.鈥�

Asked about their children鈥檚 grades, parents with kids who get mostly A鈥檚 reported that their children were more likely to do 30 minutes or more of homework, spend time with friends in person and read for fun 鈥� 鈥渁ll the things we want them to do,鈥� Porter Magee said. D and F students were more likely to play video games, scroll on their phones and access social media, their parents say. 

They also drop out of sports at higher rates, he said. 鈥淭hey’re just not doing a lot.鈥� 

The difference between how 鈥淎鈥� and 鈥淒鈥� students spend their time isn鈥檛 generally addressed in public policy, he said, 鈥減artially because we haven’t had the data, partially because we don’t know what to do about it. But I do think it’s an issue, and I think parents see it as an issue.鈥� 

Overall, Porter Magee said, the main finding from the survey is one of slow, incremental progress for kids, whose parents now feel that they have greater access to different kinds of opportunities. But the fact that much of that progress is largely enjoyed by high- and middle-income parents, he said, is problematic.

鈥淗ow would you create the public systems to make a more equal world, where all of those opportunities are available to everyone?鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat’s what we’re trying to do, and [what] the survey is helping us track.鈥�