Fiscal Office: Repeal of Vermont’s Universal School Meals could shift $18.5M burden to local budgets

Julia Richter, a senior fiscal analyst with the Joint Fiscal Office, told the committee the estimated state cost to fund Vermont'wide universal school meals in fiscal year 2026 is $18.5 million and that the program sits inside the statewide Education Fund.

"This is estimated to cost $18,500,000 from the Education Fund," Richter said, adding the Education Fund aggregates local and state spending and that property tax rates are set to fund the resulting expenditures.

Why it matters: Richter said the fiscal outcome of repealing the statutory universal school meals program established by Act 64 would depend on choices made by each school district. If districts return to charging for meals, some federal reimbursements and additional administrative costs would change; if districts keep free meals on their own, the expense would remain in local budgets funded through the statewide Education Fund.

Richter described the mechanics: the Education Fund receives…