Millions of children rely on free school breakfasts and lunches daily. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a federal program that allows schools to serve meals to all students at no cost. But CEP’s traditional funding structure and changes in the eligibility threshold significantly affect whether schools join or can afford to stay in the program. This report explores how a decade of policy shifts, data-matching systems, and state investments have altered school meal participation and affected local school district budgets.