With the start of the 2022-23 school year, elementary students will no longer be offered free lunches, with an exception for students who apply for either free or reduced lunch programs, as a result of decreased funding from the United States Congress. 

The National School Lunch Program reported that prior to the pandemic, 29.6 million students were served lunch everyday, 20.1 million of which were free and 1.7 million were reduced price (students paid $0.40). As for school breakfasts, 11.8 million were free and 0.74 million were reduced price (students paid $0.30) out of a total of 14.77 millions students each day. 

Beginning in March 2020 and continuing throughout the pandemic, child nutrition waivers allowed all students access to school lunches for free, regardless of family income. These nutrition waivers allowed schools to distribute meals through pick-up sites, allowing parents to receive multiple days worth of meals for their learners without the child present. As students returned to school, Coppell ISD was able to provide all elementary school students with free breakfast and lunch for the past two years, without requiring an application as they had done in the past. 

Recently, Congress did not provide funding that would allow CISD to continue the program of free lunches for all elementary school students and is transitioning back to the previous system. Although the Keep Kids Fed Act was signed in June and provides more funds for school meal programs and extends certain waivers, the bill does not allow schools to offer free meals to all students for the 2022-23 school year. 

However, school meal programs will continue to be reimbursed by the NSLP and School Breakfast Program rates. The Keep Kids Fed Act temporarily provides an additional 40 cents for lunch and 15 cents for breakfast due to ongoing financial challenges. 

The School Breakfast Program will reimburse school meal programs with $1.97 for free lunch, $1.67 for reduced price lunch and 33 cents for a full price meal. An additional 41 cents will be given for each free or reduced price breakfast served at “severe need” schools, where a minimum of 40 percent of lunches served during the school year two years prior were either free or reduced price. 

For the current school year, CISD – in compliance with the NSLP – now requires families to complete meal applications for free and reduced lunches to determine their eligibility for the programs offered. 

In addition, as a result of federal regulations and the overall increase in costs of food, the prices for elementary level breakfast and lunch will increase to $1.75 for breakfast and $3 for lunch for the current school year. 

Applications for free and/or reduced lunch can be accessed online. 

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