AI-generated summary, not yet reviewed by Better Utah staff. Please consult the bill text.

Utah's school lunch program would expand under this bill to guarantee free lunch not only to students who already qualify for reduced-price meals under federal guidelines, but also to a new group: children in kindergarten through sixth grade whose family income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, even if they don't meet the stricter federal income limits for reduced-price meals. To help pay for this expansion, the State Board of Education could direct up to 5% of the liquor revenue already funneled into the Uniform School Fund toward lunch costs for these newly eligible students, reimbursing schools at the lower of their standard paid-lunch price or the statewide average paid-lunch price, while reimbursement for students in the original federally-defined group would continue to be based on the gap between federal meal and reduced-price meal rates; if liquor revenue proves insufficient, the bill also directs the Legislature to draw up to $5 million from the Public Education Economic Stabilization Restricted Account to cover the shortfall. Schools that already provide free meals to all students—either through a federal program like the Community Eligibility Provision or on their own initiative—would be exempt from this new lunch requirement. The bill further requires school districts to report to the state board by October 1, 2026 on their liquor-revenue spending and total meal costs, requires the state board to relay that information to two legislative committees that same year, and sets these specific reporting requirements to expire on July 1, 2027.