National School Food Program – 2025 to 2027 Action Plan – Alberta
Note: This action plan has been re-formatted to meet accessibility requirements of Government of Canada webpages.
On this page
- Section 1 - Introduction/overview
- Section 2 - Implementation plan
- Section 3 - Indicators, targets and expected results
- Section 4 - Expenditures
- Section 5 - Indigenous collaboration
- Section 6 - Official language minority communities (OLMCs)
- Section 7 - Reporting
Section 1 - Introduction/overview
The Government of Alberta will invest funds provided by the Government of Canada under this Agreement to enhance and expand school food programs where the delivery of programs and services is in accordance with the common Principles and Objectives of the National School Food Policy and Alberta's School Nutrition Program.
Alberta's School Nutrition Program provides annual funding directly to public, separate and francophone school jurisdictions across the province and by an expression of interest application to public charter schools. Participating school jurisdictions/public charter schools have maximum flexibility in the use of school nutrition program funds and are in the best position to evaluate and respond to the unique circumstances and priorities of the communities they serve.
For the 2024 to 2025 school year, the Government of Alberta allocated annual funding of $20 million for the school nutrition program to 63 public school jurisdictions and 12 public charter schools. Alberta's School Nutrition Program helped approximately 58,000 students in participating schools get a daily nutritious meal that follows the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth in 2023 to 2024.
The Government of Alberta will continue to invest $20 million towards the School Nutrition Program each school year for 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027 in addition to the federal funding received to enhance and expand the program to more students.
Through the flexibility of Alberta's program, local school boards can make decisions that best support their students and families while building strong connections within the community and with local organizations including but not limited to not-for-profits, service clubs, and local businesses.
Alberta's program has positive impacts on student attendance, learning, and behaviour. However, there are concerns about reliance on collaborations between schools and community stakeholders to sustain nutrition programs and the persistence of food insecurity among students. The increasing cost of food strains existing budgets, making it challenging to provide healthy meals consistently. Rural areas face unique obstacles, including higher food prices due to transportation costs and limited access to fresh produce.
Alberta's current reporting on provincial school nutrition funding is limited to data on the number of students served by the school nutrition program in a school year. Beginning in the 2025 to 2026 school year, reporting on school nutrition funding will require data from school jurisdictions on the number of students served, the number of schools participating, and the types and number of programs offered (such as, breakfast, lunch, and/or snacks).
School jurisdictions are expected to engage students, parents, staff and community members to establish key priorities and other elements of their education plan, which may include school nutrition funding. In their engagement with students and families related to school nutrition programming, many school jurisdictions are working to build their awareness and understanding of hunger, nutrition and well-being so that they could be empowered to make life-long healthy choices in respect to food and eating.
Through engagement with school jurisdictions, the anticipated priority areas of investment for the next two years are, in descending priority: food, personnel, and infrastructure/equipment, administration and other costs. Estimated expenditures are outlined in Section 4.
Section 2 - Implementation plan
The Canada-Alberta National School Food Program funding will be allocated following the elements of Alberta's School Nutrition Program grant located in the Funding Manual for School Authorities. The Alberta School Nutrition Program grant includes two components: Socio-Economic Status Allocation and Adjusted Enrollment Method Allocation.
- Adjusted Enrollment Method Allocation is based on AEM full-time equivalent enrolment, as defined in Section C1.1 of the Funding Manual. Section O3 lists Adjusted Enrollment Method categories.
- Socio-Economic Status Allocation is based on a school jurisdiction's Socio-Economic Status Index and category, also detailed in Section O3.
- Charter schools must submit an expression of interest with a demonstrated need to receive current-year funding. They must also submit documentation for review and approval for the upcoming year's grant.
Based on engagement with school jurisdictions, planned activities and objectives to expand and enhance school food program offerings to more students using additional federal funding are:
| For 2025 to 2026 | For 2026 to 2027 |
|---|---|
|
|
Planned activities will make progress on the shared priorities of the Alberta School Nutrition Program and the National School Food Policy in the following ways:
| Shared Priority | Progress |
|---|---|
| Accessible: Children and youth can participate in school food programs without stigma or barriers. | School nutrition programming will continue to be available to all students within participating schools, regardless of income. |
| Health Promoting: Food served is consistent with healthy eating recommendations in the Alberta Nutrition Guidelines for Children and Youth and Canada's Food Guide, and children and youth are supported in developing healthful food-related behaviours and attitudes, as well as food and nutrition knowledge and skills. |
|
| Inclusive: Children and youth have access to culturally appropriate school food programs that reflect the First Nations, Métis, Inuit, ethnic and cultural diversity of Alberta's population, with engagement with local Indigenous communities and francophone regional authorities. | Schools and school jurisdictions engage and collaborate with local Indigenous and cultural communities, survey students, and communicate with parents to ensure student needs are met. Collaboration with Indigenous communities, francophone, and other regional communities varies across the province. Alberta Education and Childcare will continue to encourage school jurisdictions to promote engagement that reflects the cultural diversity of local communities. |
| Flexible: Supports and resources are locally sourced where possible and reflect local and regional circumstances. | Alberta's existing School Nutrition Program allows maximum flexibility for schools to determine how school nutrition programming is structured and offered, to best suit the needs of their student populations. Alberta will allocate National School Food Program funding through this existing program to continue ensuring schools maintain this flexibility, support local resources, and best support student needs. |
| Accountable: Consistent and transparent monitoring and evaluation to ensure that programs are achieving policy objectives |
|
| Sustainable: Programs are designed to be environmentally sustainable and adequately resourced. | The design of Alberta's School Nutrition Program results in sustainability. School jurisdictions are delegated authority, which allows for local decision-making, partnerships, and support for local food production to ensure programs are tailored to meet local needs and reflect local realities. School authorities may procure food from local vendors and producers. The Government of Alberta has launched the "Buy Local Alberta" campaign that aims to support local farmers, ranchers, and food processors at alberta.ca/buy-local-alberta. |
Section 3 - Indicators, targets and expected results
In the first annual year-end report, due January 31, 2026, Alberta will report the number of students participating in school food programs and describe its collaboration with school jurisdictions to ensure agreed upon additional metrics will be provided in subsequent annual reporting. Alberta will continue to explore how it may improve data collection, track participation in program types and potentially develop indicators that reflect infrastructure improvements and dietary inclusivity.
| Indicator | School Year 2024 to 2025 estimate |
|---|---|
| Number of public and charter schools in Alberta | 2101* |
| Number of public and charter students in Alberta | 754,060** |
- * School and Authority Index - Alberta Schools and Authorities
- ** educ-preliminary-authority-enrolment-data-2024-2025.xlsx
In its year 2 and 3 Annual Reports, due by January 31, 2027, and January 31, 2028, respectively, Alberta will report on the following indicators:
Note: The following table was modified for accessibility reasons.
| Indicator | Baseline (for the previous school year/prior to federal funding) |
Targets (to reach by end of June each school year) |
Annual Reporting Results (actual reach by end of each school year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of students participating in school food programs | 58,000 students served | Increase in students served | To be provided by January 31, 2027 |
| Number and list of schools receiving funding (incl. postal codes) | Not applicable | Not applicable | To be provided by January 31, 2027 |
| Number of schools offering school food programs by type (such as, breakfast, lunch, and/or snacks) | Not applicable | Not applicable | To be provided by January 31, 2027 |
Note: The following table was modified for accessibility reasons.
| Indicator | Baseline (for the previous school year/prior to federal funding) |
Targets (to reach by end of June each school year) |
Annual Reporting Results (actual reach by end of each school year) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number and list of schools receiving funding (incl. postal codes) | To be provided based on 2025 to 2026 information | Not applicable | To be provided by January 31, 2028 |
| Number of schools offering school food programs by type (such as, breakfast, lunch, and/or snacks) | To be provided based on 2025 to 2026 information | Not applicable | To be provided by January 31, 2028 |
| Number of students participating in school food programs | To be provided based on 2025 to 2026 information | Increase in students served | To be provided by January 31, 2028 |
Section 4 - Expenditures
Expenditures and rationales for expenditures for 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027 will be allocated into the categories that were the subject of consultations with Alberta school jurisdictions:
Food
Covers the cost of purchasing fresh, frozen, or shelf-stable food items necessary to provide nutritious meals to students. This includes fruits, vegetables, dairy products, proteins, grains, and culturally appropriate foods. It may also cover costs associated with food preparation, packaging, and delivery.
Approximately seventy-three per cent of National School Food Program funding is anticipated to be used to cover the cost of food to provide nutritious meals to students. School jurisdictions participating in consultations with Alberta Education and Childcare support continuing to allocate the majority of funding to food, ensuring maximum impact for students.
Personnel
Includes salaries, wages, and benefits for staff directly involved in the program, such as cooks, kitchen assistants, program coordinators, nutritionists, and delivery personnel. It may also cover training for staff to ensure food safety and program effectiveness.
Approximately nineteen per cent of National School Food Program funding is anticipated to be used to support personnel costs associated with preparation and delivery of food for students. To ensure school nutrition programs are able to run effectively, sufficient personnel is required to prepare and deliver food to students. Additionally, school jurisdictions identified costs to support food safety training for personnel in 2025 to 2026.
Infrastructure (Capital Investments/Improvements)
Funds allocated for purchasing, upgrading, or maintaining kitchen equipment, food storage facilities, refrigeration units, and transportation vehicles. This may also include renovations to school kitchens or cafeterias to support meal preparation and distribution.
Approximately six per cent of National School Food Program funding is anticipated to be allocated to infrastructure and equipment. Select school jurisdictions noted that in 2025 to 2026, additional funding would be used to purchase equipment such as fridges to support school nutrition programs.
Data/research
Supports program evaluation, impact assessments, and data collection to track student participation, nutritional outcomes, and program effectiveness. This may cover costs for research partnerships, surveys, software for tracking meal distribution, and reporting systems.
No funding is anticipated to be allocated to data/research. School jurisdictions will provide required reporting to Alberta Education and Childcare, and further research may be conducted by the Government of Alberta.
Administration
Includes expenses related to program oversight, financial management, auditing, and compliance with the Canada-Alberta National School Food Program Agreement. Covers costs for accounting services, reporting requirements, and general program coordination to ensure transparency and accountability.
Approximately one per cent of funding is anticipated to be used to support administration. School jurisdictions involved in consultations with Alberta Education and Childcare expressed agreement on their desire to keep administration costs low to ensure funding is allocated to providing nutritious meals to students.
Other costs
Covers miscellaneous expenses such as promotional materials, outreach activities to increase program participation, volunteer support, insurance, and emergency food provisions (for example, in response to evacuations caused by wildfires or other natural disasters that would result in students relocating from evacuated municipalities to others and continuing their educations temporarily in that new location). This may also include expenses for adapting the program to unexpected challenges like supply chain disruptions or increased demand.
Approximately one per cent will be allocated to other costs. These will vary by school and school jurisdiction and may include costs associated with travel for delivering nutrition, utensils and assorted food preparation supplies (including dishes, cooking and bakeware, gloves, hairnets, brown bags, resealable bags, and other kitchen supplies), cleaning supplies, and assorted additional training costs.
Anticipated impact on the reach of school food programming
The impact of National School Food Program funding on the reach of school food programming will vary by location and is subject to the decisions of school jurisdictions. In Alberta, school jurisdictions have the delegated authority to administer school nutrition programming to meet the needs of local communities, resulting in a broad range of school nutrition program offerings. School jurisdictions may choose to enhance existing school nutrition programs by offering additional meals to students, improving the nutritional value of offered meals, increasing the number of students served, and/or establishing new school nutrition programs in schools not currently offering nutrition programming to students.
Note: The following table was modified for accessibility reasons.
| Category | Anticipated spending |
|---|---|
| Food | $18,460,810.86 |
| Personnel | $4,804,868.58 |
| Infrastructure (examples, fridges, food storage) | $1,517,326.92 |
| Data/research | $0 |
| Administration | $252,887.82 |
| Other costs | $252,887.82 |
Note: The following table was modified for accessibility reasons.
| Category | Anticipated spending |
|---|---|
| Food | $12,731,493.46 |
| Personnel | $3,313,676.38 |
| Infrastructure (examples, fridges, food storage) | $1,046,424.12 |
| Data/research | $0 |
| Administration | $174,404.02 |
| Other costs | $174,404.02 |
Section 5 - Indigenous collaboration
Provincial school jurisdictions have the delegated authority to administer school nutrition programs that meet the needs of their local communities. School jurisdictions are encouraged to engage with local Indigenous communities, organizations and partners to better understand the needs of Indigenous students with respect to school food.
Alberta school jurisdictions engage with local Indigenous communities in a variety of ways including formal agreements, advisory circles, and culturally relevant initiatives to foster inclusive learning environments. Many jurisdictions establish Indigenous advisory groups, provide Elder support, and offer programs that support relationship-building and student success. School jurisdictions prioritize inclusive and supportive learning environments for Indigenous students through sustained partnerships and tailored initiatives.
Based on discussions with school jurisdictions, planned engagement with local Indigenous communities to ensure accessible, high-quality and culturally appropriate for Indigenous students in need are as follows:
| For 2025 to 2026 | For 2026 to 2027 |
|---|---|
|
School jurisdictions will continue to refine how they engage with Indigenous students and other cultural groups based on 2025 to 2026 information to ensure student nutritional needs are met. |
Section 6 - Official Language Minority Communities (OLMCs)
The four francophone regional authorities in Alberta are the publicly funded school boards that establish and manage French first language education for students whose parents are right holders according to section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. All instruction, except for English Language Arts/English Language Arts and Literature, is entirely in French and follows the Alberta curriculum.
All engagement with school jurisdictions that the Government of Alberta does, including engagement related to school nutrition, includes Francophone regional authorities.
Francophone regional authorities who receive federal nutrition funding will report as per the measures described below for their student and stakeholder populations.
Section 7 - Reporting
Alberta commits to share a first annual year-end report by January 31, 2026. Alberta and the federal government had previously agreed that Alberta would provide an interim and annual year-end report by January 31, 2026, but after discussions, it was mutually agreed that only an annual year-end report, which will include an audited financial statement, would be submitted. All previous commitments for the contents of the interim report will be included in the January 2026 annual report. Alberta also commits to share an annual report and audited financial statement with Canada for each of the two fiscal years no later than January 31, 2027, and January 31, 2028, outlining the investments and results of the previous fiscal year. The annual report will show the results attributable to the funding provided by Canada under the Agreement, including:
- results for common indicators as set out in Section 3 of the Action Plan, with final results to be provided in January 2028.
- narrative description of the activities, expenditures and results, as set out in Section 2 of the Action Plan, for each fiscal year.
- high-level summary of consultation processes with education stakeholders that may include parents, children, school communities, experts, local Indigenous communities.
Subject to mutual agreement, Alberta agrees to continue to work together with Canada to improve data collection and dissemination on key school food indicators to support future programming.