New York’s proposed state budget includes $340 million to cover the cost of school meals for all of the state’s 2.76 million students, but education advocates and state lawmakers worry the investment could be undercut by federal cuts under the Trump administration. Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a "general agreement" on a budget deal with legislative leaders on a $254 billion state spending plan on Monday, which included funds to expand eligibility for what’s known as the "Universal Free School Meals program" to nearly 300,000 additional students in public and private schools starting next school year.Access to meals in school have been shown to boost academic performance and health outcomes, improve attendance and classroom behavior, according to education experts and nutrition advocacy groups.The current program, which includes a mixture of federal and state funding, covers the cost of breakfast and lunch for 2.46 million K-12 students who meet certain poverty requirements, according to state Education Department data.On Long Island, the expansion is expected to help 260 schools and 135,000 students, according to Hunger Solutions New York, a statewide nonprofit focused on alleviating hunger.While education advocates and state lawmakers applauded the expansion, they expressed concern over proposed cuts from the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress that could put the school meals program in jeopardy or shift billions of dollars in costs to states. Federal proposals aimed at reducing spending include cuts to funding for national school breakfast and lunch programs, as well as cuts to safety net programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, both of which are used to automatically certify students for free school meal programs.Federal reimbursements to New York for the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program total about $1.5 billion, according to Hunger Solutions New York.***The protracted NYS budget process will continue into next week when legislators and the public will get a shortened amount of time to review how the $254 billion will be spent, legislators said yesterday.The New York State budget was due by April 1.Michael Gormley reports in NEWSDAY that the latest plan is to introduce budget bills Monday at the earliest. Those eight voluminous bills totaling hundreds of pages will reveal how the money will be spent as well as several major new policies in law enforcement and for schools, according to Democratic leaders in brief floor debates Thursday in the Senate and Assembly. Voting alone is expected to require at least two days.The bills will for the first time detail the deals struck by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic leaders of the state Senate and Assembly in closed-door meetings since March. Those negotiations added $2 billion to the budget that Hochul proposed in January.Legislators said Hochul is expected to issue “messages of necessity” next week that will suspend the state constitution’s requirement for three days of public review of the bills before voting can begin. Legislators said voting could start as early as Monday and the budget could be finally approved by next Thursday, more than 37 days after it was due.***Shelter Island Friends of Music present Michael Stephen Brown, pianist and composer, in concert tomorrow at 6pm in Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, 32 North Ferry Road, Shelter Island.Described by the New York Times as “one of the leading figures in the current renaissance of performer-composers,” Michael Stephen Brown will perform a program featuring works by Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Von Weber, Fauré, Beethoven, and his own original compositions.Michael Stephen Brown is a First Prize winner of the Concert Artists...

NYS school meals money could be undermined by Trump cuts