Children of Topeka are the winners in district's efforts to offer free school lunch to all
We’ve often heard there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Well, starting this fall, Topeka Unified School District 501 will offer free school lunches to all of its students.
We love this. It’s an awesome, empathetic, empowering and supportive way to bolster our young learners. No Kansan should go to school hungry.
Before you scoff at the idea of giving students free lunch, let’s take a closer look.
The Topeka Capital Journal’s Rafael Garcia reports the monumental offering is made possible by the Community Eligibility Provision, an option through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s free and reduced-price meal program that allows districts to classify certain buildings as wholly eligible for free and reduced-price lunch once they meet certain percentages of low-income students.
USD 501 will be the first district in the state to do so. More than half of the district already qualified before staff made efforts to fully reflect the status.
More: Here's why every Topeka USD 501 student will have free school lunches, starting this fall
This was the right move. It levels the playing field and will ultimately benefit the entire district — especially the children.
“Everybody will be the same,” said Nicole Jahnke, general director of child nutrition services for the district. "It’s going to benefit kids and families so much, and many might not even recognize this until they realize they’re keeping more income and their kids are eating healthy meals.”
All kids deserve to attend school with full bellies and proper nutrition. This helps children learn. Well-educated children become critical thinkers, innovators and leaders as adults. Consider this an investment in Topeka’s future. An investment in our children.
Their parents have one less thing to stress about. The bill is taken care of — and while $2.70 for a lunch and $1.70 for a breakfast is relatively cheap — it adds up quickly for families with several children.
Even the district benefits. Garcia reports USD 501 will also save money on cashiering and lunch account management, allowing the child nutrition staff to focus their efforts on other more worthwhile efforts. Additionally, the other benefit is that once qualified for CEP status, the district’s buildings maintain that status for the next four years.
During the pandemic, we saw a nationwide implementation of free school lunches. More students opted to use the lunch program nationwide, and many districts began to question how to fund universally free meals on their own.
We hope that USD 501’s efforts can become an example for other Kansas districts to follow.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Topeka's youths are winners with free school lunches for all students
