No more getting beat up over lunch money. William Lynch Elementary, Salem Upper Elementary and Salem Middle School students will be able to eat free breakfast and lunch without having to bring a penny to school this year.
Salem schools were able to expand free lunch eligibility to all students due to a 2010 federal program that has, after four years on the books, finally reached Missouri. Salem High School was close to qualifying, but didn’t have the needed 40 percent.
The expansion was brought about through the Community Eligibility Provision, passed unanimously in the Senate and signed into law by President Obama in 2010.
“It’s going to alleviate the burden for parents in a low-income area of having to pay for meals,” said Karen Bundy, Food Service Director for R-80 schools. “It’s going to free up some extra funds for them.”
In communities where a large number of the students already qualify for free lunch, the program makes the midday feeding frenzy process a lot simpler.
In West Virginia, a state with a large number of working-class families, the program has been a success. According to a USA Today story published June 23, about 40 percent of all the students in the state are on the program and officials in the Office of Child Nutrition are “thrilled” to have it as an option in their schools.
Salem school officials are excited as well.
“We’re hoping it’s something we can continue. A lot of districts that are trying it this year are hoping the same thing. We’re going to try it for a year and see how we do,” Bundy said.
So how does a school district become eligible for the program? A Nov. 4, 2013 Federal Register document (www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/2013-25922.pdf) outlines the process. It’s based on “Identified Student Percentage,” a metric that takes into account how many kids – as of April 1 of the previous school year – need assistance.
These include children on programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Medicaid, foster children, children enrolled in a federally-funded Head Start Program or an Even Start Program, as well as non-applicant students “approved by local education officials.” If the number equals at least 40 percent of the total of enrolled students, the school is eligible for the program.
The USDA website states that information from the aforementioned programs is used “instead of traditional paper applications” to allow “schools that predominantly serve low-income children to offer free, nutritious school meals to all students.”
Bundy affirms that this is true. “Applications will not go out. There’s nothing the parent has to do.”
The savings will be substantial for R-80. Where Middle School students would’ve paid $1.30 for breakfast and $1.95 for lunch, that’s all free now. For 20 breakfasts and 20 lunches a month during a nine-month school year, that’s a savings of $585 a year, per student.
“About 73 percent will be reimbursed as free, where the other 27 percent will be reimbursed as full-price meals, which we don’t get very much reimbursement from the federal government (lunch gets back only 34 cents),” Bundy said. “But if we can get the volume up, we can offset that. I’m looking forward to it. I’m anxious to see if our program numbers go up.”
One caveat though, milk will still be 45 cents if bought separately. Students who bring their lunch will still have to pay for milk. “It’s a package deal,” Bundy said.
So milk money scuffles might remain an issue for those with cool lunch boxes.
