Bill limiting fees on school meals advances
STATE HOUSE — The House and the Senate each approved bills sponsored by Senate President Valarie J. Lawson and Rep. Justine Caldwell to limit transaction and processing fees for school meals.
“Data shows that well-fed kids do better in school, so we should remove any barriers that might cause students to go hungry, especially in times of rising costs and acute food insecurity,” said President Lawson (D-Dist. 14, East Providence). “There should always be a way to pay for meals without a processing fee and any fees that are charged should be limited and exist only to cover the actual costs, not profit the vendor.”
The legislation (2026-S 2635, 2026-H 8129) would require that all public schools and districts provide at least one no-fee method to pay for school meals. The Rhode Island Department of Education would set the rules and regulations to ensure uniform statewide standards for no-fee payment access.
“Providing our kids with breakfast and lunch is an essential part of a quality public education, and vendors shouldn’t profit off of that service by charging unavoidable and expensive processing fees,” said Representative Caldwell (D-Dist. 30, East Greenwich, West Greenwich). “Cutting down or eliminating these fees is an important step to make sure that children aren’t hungry at school, allowing them to focus on learning both in and out of the classroom.”
The bill would also require that, for any payment methods that charge fees, those fees would not exceed the actual costs of collecting or processing payments. These fees could not exceed two percent of each transaction amount, and fees for any other purpose would be prohibited.
The House approved Representative Caldwell’s bill and the Senate passed President Lawson’s today. Each bill now goes to the other chamber, where it must be approved before it can be sent to the governor.President Lawson and Representative Caldwell are longtime advocates for making school meals more accessible to children. Representative Caldwell has been the primary sponsor of legislation to provide free school meals for four years running, with President Lawson as a Senate cosponsor.