Oklahoma superintendent orders all districts to offer free meals, threatens sanctions

Yahoo

08-07-2025

A school nutrition worker places sandwiches in bags in the cafeteria at Mayo Demonstration School in Tulsa on April 8, 2024. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY — All public schools in Oklahoma must pay for free cafeteria meals for every student and exclude certain dyes and processed foods, the state's top education official ordered.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters issued a mandate Monday that all districts adjust their budgets to include no-cost breakfasts and lunches in all public schools. Walters said districts already have enough state and federal funds to afford the expense, especially if they cut back on administrators' salaries.
He threatened to audit, withhold state funding or penalize the accreditation of districts that don't comply, raising questions over whether he has exceeded the bounds of his authority.
'We need less administrators in our schools,' Walters said in a statement. 'We need to get taxpayers dollars to the students, not to grow bureaucracy.'
No state law exists that requires districts to provide free meals to every student, nor are there legal provisions allowing the Oklahoma State Department of Education to sanction or audit a school for not doing so, according to a memo the Oklahoma State School Boards Association (OSSBA) sent out Monday.
'Local school boards maintain primary authority over district budgets, enabling them to make decisions based on local priorities and needs,' OSSBA executive director Shawn Hime wrote in the message. 'While some districts choose to use discretionary funds to offset meal costs for students not qualifying for free meals, this is strictly a local decision.'
Walters also ordered the removal of 'ultra-processed' snacks, sugary drinks, processed meats, various food dyes and seed oils from school meals. It also forbids schools from serving foods that were grown with pesticides like glyphosate, an herbicide commonly used in agricultural production.
The edict seeks to restrict schools from using artificial food dyes identified as blue 1 and 2, green 3, red 40, and yellow 5 and 6. Banned seed oils would include corn, canola, cottonseed, grapeseed and soy, according to a message Walters sent to public school parents.
A recent executive order from Gov. Kevin Stitt, issued during a visit from U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., instructed other state agencies to review and potentially reduce the use of artificial food dyes, including red dye 40, in school meals. The Governor's Office did not return a request for comment on Walters' mandate.
The state Education Department's announcement Monday claimed that families paid $42 million for school meals last year while administrator salaries increased by 14%. The agency did not answer a request from Oklahoma Voice to cite the source for either number.
At least nine other states, including neighboring New Mexico and Colorado, have implemented universal free school meals.
None of them did it without investing extra state money, said Chris Bernard, president and CEO of Hunger Free Oklahoma, an organization focused on expanding access to affordable, nutritious food.
Walters did not request additional funds for school meals this year, nor did state lawmakers set any dollars aside for this initiative. The state Legislature increased public school funding by $26 million this year, but none of the money is specifically earmarked for school meals.
Hunger Free Oklahoma has been advocating for legislation to expand free school meals, but Bernard said, 'We have never had the state Department (of Education) alongside supporting those bills with us.'
'There's not a way to feed every Oklahoma kid for free without additional investment,' Bernard said.
Across Oklahoma, 256 districts already provide free meals to all students through a federal reimbursement program known as the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, according to a June report from Hunger Free Oklahoma.
CEP supports free meals for 277,458 students in Oklahoma schools, about 40% of the state's student population, the organization found.
The number of students and schools covered under CEP has more than doubled in recent years, especially after the U.S. Department of Agriculture expanded eligibility to Medicaid recipients in 2023.
The cost gap between federal reimbursements and the price of food service is too wide for CEP to be financially viable for some schools, especially smaller districts whose local poverty levels put them at minimum eligibility, Bernard said.
Hunger Free Oklahoma found 264 CEP-eligible districts don't participate in the program, though some students still might qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on their household income.
Now, it's too late for those districts to change their mind, Bernard said. Walters issued his order a week after the yearly deadline passed to apply for CEP.
State lawmakers won't have another chance to prioritize this issue in the state budget until next year, said Rep. Ellen Pogemiller, D-Oklahoma City. Pogemiller said she is happy to work toward the state superintendent's goal, but combined with the expired CEP deadline, 'the reality is that Walters' approach is an unfunded mandate.'
Rep. Annie Menz, D-Tulsa, filed a bill this year that would have more districts apply for CEP. She said she was 'stunned and thrilled' to read Walters' mandate.
'I have filed and cosponsored legislation, cohosted bipartisan interim studies, published op-eds and held countless meetings all toward the goal of expanding the free lunch program in our schools, and I am glad someone in statewide leadership is finally listening to me,' Menz said in a statement. 'Hungry kids can't learn, and every child deserves access to healthy nutritious meals. I hope that going forward, Mr. Walters will be more collaborative with the Legislature to determine lasting budget solutions to make this program work for our kids.'
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