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 For the past several years in Miami public schools, every student — including my own children — could stand in the same cafeteria line, carry the same tray and eat lunch for free.

But on July 22, the Miami-Dade County School Board voted to , reversing a policy that had given free meals to all children, regardless of their household income. The policy will take effect for the .

Most conversations among parents and the public will center on hunger — a critical focus, because each child needs adequate nourishment to learn and thrive. But it’s not just families in need who will be affected by this change.

Universal lunch is a policy that helps all students feel like they belong and develop a cohesive civic identity. It’s a simple part of a powerful set of beliefs that are becoming increasingly rare in American public life: that shared experiences and basic rights matter, and that education is a public good, in which all children — no matter their background — have equal dignity because they are human.

For now, at least, many U.S. locales agree. Nine states offer to every public school student, and large school districts — or 77% — report offering free meals to all students in at least some of their schools, regardless of their family’s income.

As a sociologist and professor of educational policy at Florida International University in Miami, I study how environments shape opportunity. I was extremely proud of Miami-Dade’s universal free lunch policy as a uniting force that promoted cohesive school cultures across our diverse city. Through my research and my visits to school districts around the country, I have seen how much money matters. Many students carry the invisible burdens of their families — including socioeconomic stresses and insecurities around food — into their schools. Sometimes, they even sneak food home.

When these children attend schools where every student can eat for free, these burdens lighten. This makes an immense difference: Universal free lunch is with improved academic performance, attendance, health and nutrition. This policy helps create the kind of environment where students more naturally develop qualities like grit, resilience and agency, because young people feel like their schools are invested in their well-being as well as their academic success.

Ahead of the vote, the Miami district argued that it can no longer sustain universal lunch because the percentage of students who are automatically eligible through federal assistance programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid, has fallen below the federal reimbursement threshold that makes free lunch financially viable.

Much of this is due to the federal government , which kicked off of these benefits. Because programs like SNAP identify students for school meal benefits, it will become increasingly harder for districts, like Miami, to offer universal free meals in the future, without prioritizing this issue and funding it from other sources.

But families do not suddenly become financially secure because they cross an imaginary income line. There is an enormous difference between not qualifying for assistance and not needing it.

Miami is already one of the most expensive cities in the U.S., with costs consistently rising. Even my wife and I, who are fortunate to both have jobs, will feel the impact of this change as our monthly expenses increase. So many others will experience this as an additional bill they cannot afford on top of an already-unforgiving cost of living.

It isn’t clear yet how many families will be affected. But regardless of the final number, the underlying principle remains the same. It’s not a matter of what a family can afford; when everyone receives something, it stops being charity and becomes infrastructure. In the public schools, universal lunch lowers the stigma of being poor. It is one way that schools cure divisiveness, which seems especially necessary now, given America’s historic and rising levels of economic and political polarization.

Walking into the school cafeteria is one of the most important invisible moments telling all kids they have worth, regardless of what neighborhood they live in or what resources and opportunities their families do or don’t have. 

Getting lunch wasn’t a benefit. It was simply part of school.

In a city as economically and geographically segregated as Miami, such ordinary moments are invaluable. They stitch together a sense of commonality among the next generation before divisions of adulthood fully take hold.

The question isn’t simply about who will pay for lunch. It’s whether the U.S. still believe every child matters equally.

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