No such thing as a free lunch? It’s complicated

September means it’s back to school season, and families all over Tompkins County are getting back into the routine of school buses, backpacks and evening homework. One stress-reliever for busy parents is the knowledge that their children can get healthy breakfasts and lunches at school every day, thereby reducing the family’s weekly grocery bill and saving precious time during the morning rush.

But many families are noticing a change to their school’s lunch program this fall as COVID-19 provisions expire: where meals have been provided free of charge to all students for the past two years, most districts are now charging parents for meals once again.

The USDA Child Nutrition webpage put it this way (see fns.usda.gov/cn/2022-23-parent-faqs): “School nutrition professionals have worked tirelessly to get healthy food to children during COVID-19, and they will keep working hard to serve children healthy meals this coming school year. … Schools had some flexibilities during COVID so they could serve all kids free meals. Some of those options expired, so many schools can’t serve all meals free anymore. Instead, families will do what they did before COVID. Schools will take applications and use family income to qualify kids for free, reduced-price, or paid meals.”

This is the case for most of the schools in Tompkins County (although there are a few exceptions, as detailed below). Applications have been mailed home, and families who qualify for free or reduced-price meals won’t notice much of a difference. Children experiencing homelessness, children in foster care, runaway youth or children of migrant workers all qualify for free school meals when their household fills out an application.

Children can also qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on their household income. For example, a child in a family of four with a yearly income of $51,338 or less would qualify for reduced-price meals. Children are automatically eligible for free meals if anyone in their household gets SNAP, TANF or FDPIR benefits (visit the previously referenced website for more information).

It is those children who fall into a “gray area” who concern Megan Munson, director of school lunch at Dryden Central School District. Relatively new to the position, she’s unsure about the changes and what it will mean for her program.

“It’s all new to me,” Munson said. “I know that some families are not going to qualify for free meals but still won’t be able to afford the cost of lunches. Prices of school lunches haven’t been raised in years because meals were free. Now, with the cost of food so high, we will have to increase prices this year.”

Munson isn’t the only one who worries how changes to the federal program combined with raising prices at the local level will affect kids and families.

“Dryden [food service program] has received a donation from a community member to help cover the cost of meals for those students who couldn’t otherwise afford it,” Munson said. “It will help reduce food inequity and relieve the stress on my department’s budget. We can only carry so much debt.”

Munson also referenced a teacher-created movement she’d seen posted on social media. Instead of “paying it forward” at the coffee shop or the drive-through line, the post suggested a donation to your local school food service program to pay off one or more overdue lunch accounts, because “our children have more to worry about than whether or not they will be able to eat that day!”

Students who go to school in Newfield or Groton or who attend Beverly J. Martin or Enfield elementary schools in the Ithaca district will not have to worry about buying meals this year. These schools qualify for a federal program called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP, fns.usda.gov/cn/community-eligibility-provision) that helps them serve all meals free of charge.

Eligibility is based on the percentage of students in a particular school who automatically qualify for free or reduced meals, but because of a complex reimbursement formula, not all schools who qualify for the program are able to take advantage of it.

David Shaw, business administrator at Newfield Central School District, said that he crunched the numbers and thinks the program will work for the Newfield district, especially if participation remains high.

“If kids eat more meals, then we get more reimbursement from the federal government,” Shaw said. “Hopefully, we won’t have as many virtual days this year when kids are not in school and not eating. We hope CEP will be a fiscally responsible program for us, not just good for kids but actually saving the district money.”

Robin Wood, food service director at Newfield, echoed that sentiment.

“I want to make sure parents know that they can get free meals and should be having their kids take advantage of it,” Wood said. “If they don’t eat, the program won’t stay. We have to have the participation levels to make it work.”

Wood also wants parents to know that the CEP program only reimburses full meals. She cannot give out a la carte items like milk or ice cream for free.

Wood and Shaw both stressed another important piece of information for parents whose children attend a CEP school.

“We are still asking parents to complete the free or reduced-price application that was mailed home,” Wood said. “Even though the letter from NYS says they don’t have to complete an application to get free meals, my cover letter asks them to do it anyway.”

Shaw explained the reasoning behind this request.

“That free and reduced meal application does a couple of things for us,” Shaw said. “The state collects data in early November and uses it to determine how much state aid we get in certain funding categories. Those numbers are also used in grant applications. It is critically important for parents to fill out [the application] even though their kids are going to eat free anyway. It helps the district out and it helps the taxpayers out because if the state aid is higher. presumably, we won’t be taxing our local tax base for it. So, there is an indirect benefit.”

If all of this seems confusing, it is, for both parents and schools.

One of the five pillars to be discussed at the upcoming White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health (tinyurl.com/y5fj5unt) on Sept. 28 is to “improve food access and affordability,” including a proposal to make school meals free for everyone going forward. When asked to weigh in on this proposal, Munson said she would be in favor.

“I would absolutely support the continuation of free meals for all,” Munson said. “It was good for the school and good for the students. It removed the stigma attached to qualifying for free lunch, reduced food insecurity and leveled the playing field. Participation numbers significantly increased during the free program so more kids were getting balanced, nutritious meals.”

If you are confused about whether or not your child can continue to receive free meals at school, contact your local school district’s child nutrition or food service director.

Food for Thought appears in the third edition of each month in Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@VizellaMedia.com.