More New Jersey families are now eligible for free school meals.

Gov. Phil Murphy signed two bills on Friday related to the school meal program.

One bill requires schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to students from both working-class and middle-income families. The other bill aims to educate parents about meal programs.

"Expanding the right to a free school lunch isn't just the right thing to do educationally, it is the right thing morally,” Murphy said. “Of the many lessons we have learned over the course of the COVID pandemic, it is that access to healthy meals can become a fragile thing."

The bills go into effect immediately.