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School districts in Washington will now be required to give students 20 minutes at the minimum to eat lunch.

Specifically, schools in the state will allot a minimum of 20 minutes for students between kindergarten and the fifth grade to eat their lunch “once the students have received their food” from the lunch line.

The Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) approved the rule Friday, though it won’t go into effect until the 2029-2030 school year, allowing districts plenty of time to coordinate a lunch strategy that appeases the new rule.

“Giving children enough time to eat properly is an important issue, one that parents have again raised in the post-pandemic environment,” Washington State Auditor Pat McCarthy said in a statement. “While scheduling the school day is always a challenge, I encourage OSPI and individual school districts to continue their efforts to give students 20 minutes to eat their lunch after active time at recess.”

This rule only affects elementary schools because primary school students have the shortest lunches on average, according to the Washington State Superintendent of Public Instruction. Elementary schools have the least amount of flexibility in their scheduling, while free and reduced-price meal programs are used the most at this level of schooling, causing long lunch lines and less time for students to eat.

A 2019 performance audit found Washington public school students often have less than 20 minutes, according to .

“Elementary students often will only eat a few favorite lunch items unless they have enough time to eat a more balanced meal, and researchers recommend 20 minutes as a best practice,” The Office of Washington State Auditor stated in January.

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Pushback on the rule is coming from school employees

While most parents have approved this rule, school administrators are pushing back and voicing their frustrations, according to .

The Deputy Superintendent of Battle Ground Public Schools, Shelly Whitten, said some of the schools in her district already have a hard time feeding all the students on a given school day, and that adding five to 10 minutes more to lunchtime would cost approximately $30,000 for one school due to expand both the staff and the cafeteria space.

“I don’t agree with it, I’ll be honest with you,” Whitten told . “It definitely is an unfunded mandate.”

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