RICHMOND, VA (Rocktown Now) — Free school lunch and breakfast may soon be the law in the Commonwealth.

House Bill 1958 would require local school boards to participate in federal school lunch and breakfast programs through the Department of Agriculture, making meals available to any students asking for one.

Emily Hardy, with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, says there is a need for expanded free school meals across the state. “Almost 400,000 kids would qualify financially currently to get school breakfast that don’t. So, we do know that there are a lot of children in Virginia who are food insecure but aren’t currently getting the service in their school.”

Nearly one-point-three million Virginia children are currently enrolled in public schools across the Commonwealth.