So it turns out students may get universal free school meals this fall after all!
This afternoon, Seattle City Council President Joy Hollingsworth and Councilmembers Dionne Foster and Dan Strauss announced a plan to pay for universal meals at Seattle Public Schools over the 2026–2027 school year with the City’s general fund.
The sudden reversal comes on the heels of yesterday’s bruising four-hour committee meeting, which resulted in a one-year delay in the implementation of free school meals and a lot of angry public comments about why that was a terrible idea. The six council members who voted for an amendment to delay the plan prefaced their support with defensive, hand-wringing speeches, as if preparing for backlash. Well, their preparations failed, and it turns out yelling works.
Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson had originally proposed free school meals for all students starting this fall, using money from the $1.3 billion Families, Education, Preschool, and Promise Levy, or FEPP Levy, voters approved last year. After two years, Washington State is supposed to pick up the bill with returns from the millionaires tax.
However, the council passed an amendment from Hollingsworth, Foster, and Rivera (she added herself as co-sponsor before the final buzzer) in yesterday’s committee meeting that pushed back Wilson’s plan to fund a new means-tested food vouchers program for food-insecure youth on weekends and school breaks. Foster insisted the vouchers aren’t means-tested—but they require school staff to determine which kids get them based on their family’s annual household income (which is by definition a means test).
As we’ve reported, public commenters were pissed and food security advocates were divided about which hungry kids we should be feeding first. Most sided with Wilson, but there was basically consensus that the City would need a combination of targeted programs and universal programs to end hunger. That’s what Hollingsworth, Strauss, and Foster now want to deliver, which is good, but did it require the food fight? (Is a world where the council members handle their disagreements in private and avoid a costly political controversy possible?)
To do it and save a little political face, they plan to amend Seattle’s mid-year supplemental budget to funnel money towards universal school meals. The mayor’s office estimates the cost of free school meals is about $3.6 million annually. That money shouldn’t be hard to find. At yesterday’s meeting, progressive Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck noted several controversial city programs, such as homeless encampment sweeps and the Seattle Police Department cameras, cost more than funding universal school meals.
But it might not be that easy as Wilson pointed out in an emailed statement.
“Now Council is proposing to pull this funding from our general fund, which is already facing a $175 million deficit,” Wilson said. “I look forward to seeing which critical services they plan to cut from the general fund to make their numbers work. I ask them to reconsider the fiscally responsible approach my office originally put forward. Feeding every student in Seattle is a goal we share, and my office is eager to work with the Council to find the best path forward.”
The city council’s Finance, Native Communities & Tribal Governments Committee will meet on Tuesday, August 4, at 9:30 am to vote on this new proposal.
So what was the point of all this? Who knows. At least we may fill the kids’ tummies.
This story has been updated to include statement from Mayor Katie Wilson.
