Arkansas celebrated a huge and unequivocal win for children today, as Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed legislation mandating that the state provide free breakfast for all public school students, regardless of family income. 

This is a big step toward reducing hunger in our state, while also improving children’s health and academic achievement. And it comes not a moment too soon: Arkansas has the nation’s highest food insecurity rate, and the second highest rate among children.  

The governor signed Senate Bill 59, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Sen. Jonathan Dismang, into law in a ceremony on Thursday. It is now Act 123. 

It’s a no-brainer that students will learn better when their bellies are full. But it’s also true that their behavior is better, that they have better attendance, and that they’re less likely to be late for school if they participate in school breakfast.  

Research shows that school breakfast offered to all – not just the lowest-income families who would qualify if they fill out the forms –helps eliminate disparities between children with higher and lower incomes. And kids are less likely to skip breakfast, which helps with their overall nutrition and health.  

This school breakfast legislation is the second piece of legislation in the recent past that proves that children’s issues can and should be bipartisan (or better yet, nonpartisan). In 2023, the Legislature overwhelmingly passed legislation, also sponsored by Dismang, that provides free school meals for any child who qualifies for reduced-price meals.  

While that legislation, and the law signed today, are commendable wins for kids and families in Arkansas, we have a lot more work to do to ensure that no child goes hungry. We outlined several policy opportunities in our recent report on state hunger policy, including: 

• Universal school meals for children. This would expand the new breakfast-for-all program to include lunch too. 

• Repealing the state-level “asset limit” that kicks families off SNAP if they compile even a meager emergency savings account. The great majority of states limit only income, not savings.  

• Allowing for “broad-based categorical eligibility” so that families who qualify for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program are categorically eligible for SNAP. This would increase access to benefits for families without additional work. 

• Reducing the 30-page length of the SNAP applications. Most state applications are half that length or less.  

Many thanks to our partners at Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, whose No Kid Hungry campaign has been working for years to advance better policies to reduce child hunger. Their hard work brought us to this moment, and our state can and should build on this momentum.