California has approved its 2026-27 state budget, channelling $500 million in one-off funding into the Kitchen Infrastructure and Training (KIT) Programme, with new wording letting school districts spend the money on plant-based foods and milks alongside kitchen upgrades and staff training.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed off the package after legislators approved it, and the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) publicised the result, calling it a funded route for districts to act on recent federal school meal reforms.
The KIT money can modernise kitchen infrastructure, train nutrition staff, expand scratch cooking, and buy healthy foods, including plant-based products and plant-based drinks. The 2025 KIT round, worth $145 million, ran competitively and, for the first time, let schools choose California-grown food purchases. The 2026-27 tranche extends that flexibility to plant-based purchasing.
The plant-based purchasing clause was carried by Assemblymember Robert Garcia (D-Rancho Cucamonga), who represents California’s 50th Assembly District, with backing from Assemblymembers Kalra, Patel, Zbur, Haney, and Bryan, and Senator Ochoa Bogh.
Assembly member Robert Garcia said, “I thank the Governor and my fellow Legislators for helping secure California students more school food options. The expanded dietary flexibility will allow students access to meals that meet their needs, and a child who is not worried about hunger is a child who will be able to learn.”
The state clause follows the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act (S. 222), signed into law on 14 January, which let schools in the National School Lunch Program offer nutritionally equivalent plant-based beverages to all students, ending an 80-year cow’s milk mandate.
California’s budget turns that federal flexibility into a funded purchasing route. Without state money, districts faced budget limits in adding plant-based items to menus. PBFA worked with member companies, school districts, health groups, parents, and NGO partners before the vote, and a coalition letter asking for the plant-based line item was signed by more than 120 California school districts and partner organisations.
