Universal Breakfast

This management bulletin provides guidance related to California Education Code (EC) that allows certain school food authorities (SFA) to offer breakfast at no cost to students. The following guidance does not apply to local educational agencies that are public school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools serving students in grades transitional kindergarten through grade 12 (TK–12), as these entities are required to provide two meals free of charge (breakfast and lunch) during each school day to students requesting a meal, regardless of their free or reduced-price meal eligibility. This guidance is only applicable to private schools or residential child care institutions with day students that are participating in the School Breakfast Program (SBP). 

Universal Breakfast is an option that allows certain SFAs participating in the SBP to provide a nutritionally adequate breakfast at no charge to all students regardless of their eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. A nutritionally adequate breakfast complies with federal meal pattern requirements and, as a result, qualifies for reimbursement under the federal SBP. Under EC Section 49550.5, SFAs can use the cafeteria fund to offset operational costs associated with providing Universal Breakfast. The cafeteria fund is the nonprofit school food service account (i.e., Fund 13) as defined in Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 210.2.

While all participating students receive a free breakfast under Universal Breakfast, SFAs must still claim each breakfast according to the number of breakfast meals served to free, reduced-price, and paid students. SFAs can use cafeteria funds to support Universal Breakfast; however, the SFA’s cafeteria fund must be reimbursed with nonfederal funds if the cafeteria fund alone cannot support Universal Breakfast.

This Universal Breakfast option is not available to school sites that are operating under a federal provision, such as Provision 2 or the Community Eligibility Provision.

Application to Participate in Universal Breakfast

EC Section 49550.5 requires SFAs that want to participate in Universal Breakfast to submit an application on or before July 1 of each school year to the California Department of Education for approval before implementing Universal Breakfast. The application for Universal Breakfast is available in the Download Forms section of the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS), Form ID SNP 70.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact your School Nutrition Programs (SNP) County Specialist. The SNP County Specialist list is available in the Download Forms section of CNIPS, Form ID Caseload. You can also email SNPInfo@cde.ca.gov to be directed to your SNP County Specialist.