Houston, TX — Students at 33 Houston ISD campuses will no longer automatically receive free lunch beginning Monday after changes to federal eligibility requirements affected the schools’ participation in a program that provides meals to all students.
HISD said the affected campuses no longer qualify for the federal Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, which allows eligible schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to every student without requiring individual household applications.
Eligibility is tied in part to the percentage of students who qualify for programs such as SNAP. According to research cited by Rice University, approximately 155,000 fewer Houston-area residents were eligible for SNAP between 2025 and 2026, with children accounting for more than half of that reduction.
With fewer students automatically qualifying through SNAP, HISD said 33 campuses no longer meet the requirements for universal free lunch.
Families at those schools will now need to submit a Free/Reduced-Price Meal Application to determine whether their children qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
The majority of HISD’s roughly 250 campuses will remain in the CEP program.
HISD also confirmed that breakfast will continue to be free for students at all district campuses.