By Tiffany Williams –
BOSTON — The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced today that participation in school meals continued to climb during the 2024-25 school year, the third year of state-supported universal free school meals. Preliminary data show an increase of 11,000 students eating lunch and 20,000 more students eating breakfast daily compared to the previous year.
According to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), 101.7 million lunches and 48.6 million breakfasts were served during the 2023-24 school year — an increase of 8.3 million total meals over 2022-23. Daily, more than 584,000 students ate school lunch, while 272,000 students ate school breakfast.
With support from both state and federal funding, approximately 7 in 10 students across Massachusetts now participate in free, healthy school meals.
“Congratulations to Wilmington Public Schools’ nutrition staff and to all the school nutrition workers and farmers who have collaborated to make sure Massachusetts students have healthy meals,” said Governor Maura Healey. “I’m proud of our state’s commitment to Universal Free School Meals, and we will continue to support schools with purchasing local foods.”
To support continued growth in school nutrition, the state budget signed by Governor Healey last week includes $180 million to sustain universal free school meals and $750,000 for Massachusetts FRESH grants. These grants help schools procure or grow local food and teach students and school staff about the local food system.
“Schools have made amazing meals with ingredients sourced from across New England,” said Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll. “These appealing and healthy meals help fuel students’ bodies and minds for learning.”
Wilmington Honored With Top Cafeteria Award
Wilmington Public Schools received the 2025 Terrific Tray of the Year award for their rotisserie chicken meal, which highlighted ingredients sourced from Massachusetts and across New England. The award, presented by DESE and Massachusetts Farm to School, was announced during the Healthy Kids, Healthy Programs Annual Summit for school nutrition and wellness professionals.
“Congratulations to Wilmington Public Schools on being recognized for the Terrific Tray of the Year and to all of this year’s honorees,” said Education Secretary Dr. Patrick Tutwiler. “The state’s Terrific Tray winners are great examples of what can happen when we prioritize child nutrition – promoting student food security and wellbeing and supporting our local farmers and businesses.”
The Terrific Tray program honors schools that serve appealing and nutritious meals using locally grown food. Wilmington was selected from among eight monthly winners chosen during the 2024-25 school year. The overall winner was decided through public voting.
Each 2025-26 monthly Terrific Tray winner will receive a $2,500 grant from the Henry P. Kendall Foundation to further enhance their school meal programs.
The 2024-25 Terrific Tray monthly award recipients included:
- September – Springfield Public Schools
- October – Wilmington Public Schools (also overall winner)
- November – Seekonk Public Schools
- December – Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District
- January – Falmouth Public Schools
- February – Everett Public Schools
- March – Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School (Northampton)
- April – Brookline Public Schools
The state continues to explore ways to make local and healthy food more accessible in school cafeterias. However, officials cautioned that recent federal budget cuts under the Trump Administration targeting farm-to-school programs and the Local Food for Schools initiative may create future obstacles for local sourcing efforts.
Still, with record-high participation and growing statewide recognition for school nutrition programs, Massachusetts remains a national leader in child nutrition and local food integration in public education.