Universal free meals and school suspensions

Abstract

We examine whether providing free school meals to all students causes changes in out-of-school suspensions for schools adopting those policies in the United States. Using updated data and modern difference-in-differences methods that account for staggered adoption, we show suspensions fall by approximately 10% in elementary schools and 6% in middle and high schools, with larger effects in schools that previously served fewer students eligible for free and reduced-price meals in preadoption periods. These findings contrast with earlier null results, primarily due to better methods that account for staggered program adoption as opposed to the updated dataset.