WA income tax law promises free school meals for every kid. What will that cost?
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- Washington passed a 9.9% tax on household earnings over $1 million per year.
- Democrats pledged $140 million from the tax for free school lunches starting in 2029.
- Senate Democrats say the law will expand such meals to an additional 272,000 students.
Washington state is on track to grant free school meals to all K-12 students.
That’s thanks to the new income tax on high earners, which imposes a 9.9% levy on annual household earnings of more than $1 million.
In his inaugural address last year, Gov. Bob Ferguson called for universal free school breakfasts and lunches. Legislation in the 2025 session that would have accomplished that goal fizzled out.
But the governor’s priority ultimately found its way into this year’s Senate Bill 6346, or the “millionaires tax,” as branded by Democrats.
Rep. April Berg, a Mill Creek Democrat who authored the Ferguson-endorsed amended version of the income-tax bill, noted in a March call that she’s served as a two-time school board member. The state shouldn’t have “any type of income analysis for a third-grader needing food,” the House Finance Committee chair said.
“Education is our paramount duty,” Berg said, “and they deserve to be fed.”
Supporters contend that the move will help remove the stigma associated with lower-income students accepting free meals at school.
During a marathon debate on the income-tax bill in the final days of the 2026 session, Republican Rep. John Ley of Vancouver pointed out that in 2024, 7 in 10 Washington students had access to free school meals, citing numbers from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
The remaining 30% of kids not receiving free school meals would ostensibly come from the state’s better-off families, Ley said.
“It appears to me we do not need the underlying income tax in order to provide free meals for our school children,” he said, “because we are already providing free meals for 70% of those children.”
Democrats and Ferguson have vowed that $140 million of the income tax’s collections will go toward universal free school lunches starting in 2029. Senate Dems say that translates to expanding such meals to an additional 272,000 students.
Senate Minority Leader John Braun said in a March 20 commentary in The Chronicle that while the tax bill links 5% of revenue to early learning, for example, it doesn’t have an allocation for free school meals. Instead, it only says that the Legislature “intends” to offer them, he wrote.
“The new state operating budget doesn’t get there either,” the Centralia Republican said, adding that it “has only this requirement: Forecast how many students would participate in a free breakfast-lunch program, and use that forecast when budgeting for the 2027-29 cycle.”
Reducing stigma of free school meals
OSPI Superintendent Chris Reykdal said in a March call that if lawmakers follow through, free school meals would be available to the remaining 30% of kids who don’t currently qualify — if they need it.
“That will reduce the stigma,” he said, “and everyone’s on the same playing field, whether they choose to do it or not.”
Some Washington public school districts already offer such meals to all students — including in Tacoma, where they’re covered by district, state and federal resources.
Today 520,000 students are eligible for reduced-price and free meals, OSPI spokesperson Katy Payne said in an email. Some of those children already attend campuses serving universal free meals; others do not.
OSPI gave an estimate for the cost of offering universal free school meals: about $275 million a year. Payne said that $108,250,000 is the allocation for what’s currently in place.
She did not reply to follow-up inquiries about whether the $140 million promised by the Legislature would, by OSPI’s estimation, be enough to cover universal free school meals statewide.
Removing hunger from the school equation
Reykdal said that hunger plays a role in kids’ academic performance, behavior and attention in schools.
In a study published in August 2020 in the “Economics of Education Review,” for instance, researchers found that expanding free-lunch access helped boost math scores.
Proponents of the new income tax argue that the legislation helps working Washingtonians, including through the elimination of sales taxes on diapers and hygiene and grooming products.
Reykdal put an estimated dollar amount on potential school-meal savings for families under the bill, calling it “middle-class relief.”
“For those who want to tap into it who aren’t currently, this is something like $1,000 a year in savings for families if they use lunch and then sometimes grab a breakfast,” he said.
Reykdal acknowledged critics’ concerns about the school-meals expansion benefiting the middle- and upper-middle class more than anyone else, given that lower-income kids and those living in high-poverty communities are already eligible. He said it’s fair to question whether the expense is the best use for such money at a time when education has faced state cuts.
Reykdal criticized lawmakers’ move to grow the state budget by roughly $2 billion in 2026 while slashing dollars from programs like Transition to Kindergarten and Running Start.
Bottom line, Reykdal said: Universal free school meals is a boon as families — even some in the middle class — are struggling financially.
“So it’s a good thing we’re doing,” he said. “It shouldn’t come as a trade-off to funding the basics. We can do both.”
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