Lawmakers told Vermont’s universal school meals are reaching more students and costing less than early estimates

Representative David Durfee of Shaftesbury, chair of the House Agriculture, Food Resiliency and Forestry Committee, told the Ways & Means Committee that Vermont’s Universal School Meals program is “working as we hoped it would work in terms of, feeding more students, more children,” and that the program is helping farmers and families with affordability issues.

The program — enacted statewide after pandemic-era and subsequent state legislation — remains in Title 16 and is funded as categorical aid from the statewide Education Fund. Durfee and Joint Fiscal Office staff said the current FY26 top-line estimate for the state share of Universal School Meals is about $18,500,000, down from a $29,000,000 estimate made when the program was first adopted.

“The good news … is it’s not actually 18.5 (million) in terms of savings that the state would realize,” Durfee said, describing three factors that reduce any net state savings if the program were repealed: increased local administrative costs to run a pricing program,…