Governor Tom Wolf is unveiling a new program that will offer free breakfast to students.
Wolf says the plan is designed to help feed kids and combat hunger in Pennsylvania schools.
“You need to have good nutrition if you want to learn. That’s a part of education,” Wolf said. “So, you can’t feed hungry minds or you can’t get people to want to learn on an empty stomach.”
The Universal Free Breakfast Program will cost the state $21.5 million. Wolf says the state will reimburse schools for the cost.
“We have a fund of state money that is for the expressed purpose of reimbursing schools for free meals. Because the federal government over the course of the pandemic has put money into basically their waiver program, we haven’t been eating into that fund and it’s grown over the last couple of years.”
Wolf says the program will at least run through the end of this year.
The program will officially start October 1st.
