One Big Beautiful Bill could mean Hoosier students lose access to free school meals

WASHINGTON, D.C. – It’s back-to-school week in Indianapolis, but President Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill, which is now law, could influence districts from providing students the basic nutrition they need.

Part of the bill includes changes to SNAP that could risk eligibility for nearly 128,000 Hoosiers. These changes include stricter work requirements while also shifting higher benefits and administration costs onto the state. This means the school districts are at risk of failing to maintain their Community Eligibility Provision, which provides schools with free breakfast and lunch meals.

A study from the Food Research and Action Program showed that over 43% of districts in Indiana used CEP for the 2024-25 school year. One of the districts, Beech Grove, is entering its third year in a four-year deal with the program. School Director of Operations Brian Garman said Beech Grove fed nearly 2,800 last year due to the program.

“Each year, you can choose to either apply again and revise those numbers, or you can just remain status quo,” Garman said.

The district’s eligibility for CEP depends on the number of students receiving SNAP benefits, but the Big Beautiful Bills changes to SNAP make it more difficult for households to be considered eligible, according to Purdue University Agricultural Professor Dr. Joseph Balagtas.

“To the extent that they’re not able to carry that burden, that could be fewer federal and state dollars flowing to food-insecure households,” Balagtas explained.

Should districts like Beech Grove lose CEP, they may be stuck filling out applications in pursuit of other free or discount meals. But that process is costly in both time and resources, according to FRAC Child Senior Nutritionist Erin Hysom, and not at all guaranteed.

“That’s time that they could have spent engaging with students, conducting wellness activities, meeting with local farmers and improving meal quality,” Hysom said.

Hysom also mentioned that for families, the applications have barriers that would delay their approval.

“Particularly a family that’s piecing together multiple forms of employment just to make ends meet to complete that paperwork,” she said.

Garman said Beech Grove is maintaining its CEP program for both this year and next year.

“We’ve already notified our parents that it will be in place for this school year and I anticipate that it will be in place for the ’26-’27 school year as well,” he said.