To reduce hunger and improve nutrition for students, including through the School Meals for All universal meals program, California and its local school districts employ thousands of workers. But many of those workers do not earn enough to afford to live near where they work. Led by Food Insight Group, we surveyed 108 school districts and conducted 21 semi-structured interviews in California about their 2023–24 staffing models, wages, job characteristics, and challenges. This fact sheet shows that cafeteria workers earned substantially less than fast food cooks and less than needed to afford a one-bedroom dwelling in their district. It also examines the job quality of public school food service occupations and select comparison occupations in California, and shows that the school food service occupations score below many other food, health care, and child care occupations. The fact sheet also shares the perspectives of school food service workers on the challenges they face.