Overview
- The City Council, which debated the issue on Wednesday, July 22, prepared to vote on an amendment from Council President Joy Hollingsworth and Councilmember Dionne Foster that would postpone universal free breakfast and lunch to the 2027–28 school year.
- The amendment would redirect $3 million from the Families, Education, Preschool and Promise (FEPP) levy reserve to a weekend and school-break food voucher program intended to reach children in as many as 5,000 families.
- Mayor Katie Wilson took $7.7 million from the FEPP reserve to start universal meals this fall and has said the state would assume costs after two years using revenue from the newly passed millionaires income tax, a funding plan now at risk because of an active repeal ballot measure and legal challenges.
- Community groups and institutions are split: more than 80 groups and the Seattle Education Association support immediate universal meals while a 30-plus nonprofit coalition has endorsed the Hollingsworth/Foster amendment, and local outlets frame the outcome differently.
- Supporters say universal meals reduce hunger, stigma, and paperwork and cite modest city costs, while supporters of the amendment stress targeting scarce funds to highest-need neighborhoods and warn that uncertain state funding could force future cuts.