Governor Mills signs supplemental budget to extend free meals to public pre‑K students

Governor Janet Mills said she signed a supplemental budget that includes $375,000 in ongoing funding to help school districts work with off‑site community childcare programs to provide free meals and snacks to public pre‑K students.

Mills, identifying herself at the start of a recorded statement, cited the state’s 2021 legislation making Maine the second state to fully fund universal free meals in public schools and said the new grant funding is part of a broader effort to make sure younger children who attend community‑based pre‑K programs receive the same benefits as school‑based students.

"About 170,000 public school students are allowed to get free food at school now," Mills said, and she added that the program also supports local farms. She said that more than 30,000,000 school meals were served in Maine during the 2024–25 school year.

Mills said the expansion of pre‑K programs has reached the highest enrollment level the state has seen in the current school year, and she credited cooperation between school districts and licensed community childcare programs for that growth. She said many schools partner with nearby community childcare programs, such as Family Focus, to host public pre‑K students when districts lack classroom space.

Mills noted a regulatory barrier: federal nutrition rules "do not allow off‑site meals," she said, creating a situation in which a 4‑year‑old in a school‑based pre‑K receives meals while a 4‑year‑old in a community‑based pre‑K does not. Quoting the director of Space to Thrive in Windham, she said, "A 4 year old attending a school based pre k classroom receives meals, while a 4 year old attending a community based pre k does not even though both children are part of the same public education system. A 4 year old deserves to eat regardless of the early childhood setting." The governor said some community programs have covered the cost themselves while operating on thin margins.

Mills credited Senate President Maddie Daughtry’s proposal in the supplemental budget and said the enacted measure includes $375,000 in ongoing funding for a grant program that will allow school districts to work with off‑site childcare providers to provide nutritious snacks and meals to enrolled public pre‑K students.

"We know that school meals keep kids from going hungry and that eating during the school day improves student attendance, behavior, and academic achievement," Mills said, describing the budget action as an effort to expand free meals to pre‑K students statewide.

The statement closed with Mills reiterating that she had signed the supplemental budget and thanking listeners.