Why can’t all Oklahoma schools provide
free lunches for students in 2025-26?

by Wendy S. Pratt

Oklahoma's state superintendent says he will "mandate that every school district fully funds
student meals using existing state and federal operational dollars." Sounds great! There's just
one a problem; that would be against the law. While the state superintendent is president of
the State Board of Education, he has neither the authority nor the available funding to make
this happen for EVERY public school THIS school year. In fact, he may be setting up a
constitutional crisis that could end up in court (again).

School lunches are funded based on a federal, state and local formula that local boards of education must
plan for well ahead of fall. No numbers were offered in the press release so we might know how many schools
offer free lunches now and which ones cannot afford to do so. The superintendent claims that by eradicating “gross mismanagement and bloated bureaucracies” there would be sufficient funding to cover the cost but offers no proof (again). One example of the disparity: Edmond Public Schools charges $3.30 for lunch while Oklahoma City Public Schools provides free lunches for all students. This is because high-poverty schools get enough federal funding to cover the cost.

This problem, which should have been solved decades ago, requires an understanding of how school budgets work and willingness to do the job as defined in the Oklahoma Constitution in 1907 and state statutes adopted since. Below are the relevant statutory references.