End of pandemic-era free lunch program: How Summit County school districts are affected

COVID-19, job losses, inflation and shortages have combined in a perfect storm to strain family budgets. One respite was that school-age children could have both breakfast and lunch for free during the school week, regardless of income.

But that benefit will disappear for many students in the new school year.

More than 22 million children received free or low-cost lunch each school day from the National School Lunch Program during the 2020 school year.

In April 2021, the U.S. Department of Education was approved to continue free breakfast and free lunch to all students. The pandemic-era Seamless Summer Option program ends June 30.

More: Akron court offering 100 free lunches for the needy June 8

That won't change the meal program in Akron Public School, where free lunches were available to all students year-round prior to the pandemic and will continue to be offered. Other districts, however, will have to adjust because of the extended federal program's upcoming end date and its cutoff of additional funding.

The Beacon Journal reached out to every school district in Summit County to discuss their lunch programs and how they will be affected. Responses were not received from the Barberton, Manchester, Springfield, Norton and Copley-Fairlawn school districts despite multiple requests.

Here's a look at the lunch programs in districts that responded:

Cuyahoga Falls

As supervisor of nutrition services and chef for Cuyahoga Falls City Schools, Bill Bailey said additional funding during the pandemic allowed for more students to eat.

During the 2019-2020 school year, 95,511 breakfasts were served. This year, as of May 20, more than 200,000 free breakfasts and 360,000 free lunches were served districtwide, he said.

"For the 2022-23 school year, we will return to the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program," Bailey said. "Families can fill out a free and reduced meal benefits application or add money to the student’s lunch account to participate in our Breakfast and Lunch Program.  Both of these will be available on our website."

Cuyahoga Falls schools is offering free breakfast and lunch for children 18 and under each weekday from June 6 to Aug. 5. Both meals will served for dine-in only at the Cuyahoga Falls High School cafeteria and Preston Elementary School. Richardson Elementary School will offer lunch for dine-in only as well.

Hudson

Around 6% of Hudson City Schools students qualified for free or reduced lunch in 2019-20, according to Jennifer Reece, school communications manager.

"Due to the pandemic, federal funding allowed student meals to be served at no cost to our families," she said. "The federal funding covered all costs associated in supplying these meals.  Additional staff was needed; however, like many businesses, the district found it difficult to find extra staff."

Hudson is not raising prices for its school lunches during the 2022-2023 year and does not offer a free lunch program during the summer.

Tallmadge

Before free breakfast and lunch was available to all students for the 2020-2021 school year, approximately 25% (or about 600) Tallmadge City Schools students were eligible for free or reduced meals. Overall, about 50% of students ate meals from the cafeteria, according to Superintendent Steve Wood.

He said federal funding allowed more students to receive free meals. He said he hopes more students take advantage of the cafeteria.

Tallmadge meal prices are expected to increase 7-9% in cost versus two years ago due to the increase in food prices, Wood said.

For the summer, the school is raising awareness of places families can receive meals for students, but Tallmadge Schools is not a location.

Woodridge

Food Services Supervisor Tina Hastings said Woodridge Local Schools saw an increase in the amount of free meals given to students.

"We served approximately 954 meals a day, breakfast and lunch, to our free and reduced(-cost) students," she said. "If you include our full-price students in the 2019-2020 school year our total participation was 1,345 student meals a day. This school year we averaged 2,113 meals a day."

Additional funding helped cover extra expenses like personal protective equipment, packaging and grocery cost increases, Hastings said.

Woodridge school meal costs will increase due to inflation prices of groceries and paper products, she added. Elementary school breakfast will be $1.75 and lunch will be $3; middle school breakfast will be $2 and lunch will be $3.25. High school meals cost $3.50. The school does not offer a free meal program in the summer.

More: Akron Public Schools to use $96 million in stimulus funds to boost current initiatives

Coventry

Coventry Local School District Food Service Coordinator Mark Bindus said there was less participation in the meal program because there were fewer students in school overall due to the pandemic. But this school year, more students used the program.

In October 2021, the school district served an average of 973 lunches per day and 423 breakfasts per day. Before the pandemic, it served an average of 760 lunches and 245 breakfasts in October 2019 compared to an average of 587 lunches and 153 breakfasts in October 2020.

"The extra pandemic funding has allowed us to improve our bottom line, as we ran at a deficit for the 2020-21 school year because of the virtual school option and constant closings due to COVID outbreaks," Bindus said.

Bindus said meals will increase 25 cents next school year and the school district will not offer summer meal distribution because of low participation in the past.

Revere

More children were able to eat for free within Revere Local Schools because of the additional funding, said Karen Arbogast, Revere's director of communications.

During the 2021-2022 school year, 152 students participated in the free/reduced lunch program compared to 132 students in the 2019-2020 school year.

"The federal money did cover the cost of the food," Arbogast said. "No extra staff was hired, however, we did use extra substitute food workers on certain days."

She added the price of school meals will likely increase due to the cost of food and salaries within the district. The district is not offering any summer meal distributions.

Nordonia Hills

Nordonia Hills City Schools Business Director Matt Strickland said the additional funding allowed more students to have free lunch, but created other issues.

"Supply chain issues created availability as well as financial issues," he said. "We did not hire any additional staff. Our small kitchens, staffing shortages/lack of applicants and supply chain issues made it quite challenging."

156,349 free or reduced lunches were provided during the 2019-2020 school year with closure of school in April, May and June because of the pandemic. This school year, 287,366 lunches have been provided so far.

Lunch prices are not increasing next year, and the district is not providing meals during the summer.

Twinsburg

For the Twinsburg City School District, the additional funding helped maintain or not lose money in the 2020-2021 school year as it would have with normal funding, said Bindus, who oversees both the Coventry and Twinsburg meal programs.

In spring 2020, as the pandemic continued, the school district offered a five-day breakfast and lunch meal package as part of the Summer Seamless Program.

"For those months and through the summer, we fed approximately 160 students per day," he said. "During the 2020-2021 school year, approximately 40-50% of our students were virtual with only a small percentage of those students participating in our Virtual Meal Program, or approximately 250 student meals per day."

Due to the Summer Seamless Program ending, Twinsburg will resume its pre-COVID operations, which means more a la carte sales to help fund the bottom line.

School meals will increase by 25 cents, and the district will not offer meal distribution in the summer.

Stow-Munroe Falls

Stow-Munroe Falls City Schools used the additional funding to help cover the increase price of food and supplies, said Jill Garst, nutrition services administrative assistant.

It also helped offset substitute teacher expenses due to high absentee rates during the fall and winter months when many were diagnosed with coronavirus, she added

School meal prices will increase next year to cover inflation prices on food and supplies.

"The food service department is a self-sustaining, separate entity within the school district," Garst said. "Increased meal prices are required in order to cover the cost of running the program. The new pricing was just approved at the board May 25. We will be communicating this out to our parents and community soon."

Stow-Munroe does not qualify for summer meals based on area eligibility set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Reporter Molly Walsh can be reached at mwalsh@gannett.com 

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Summit County schools adjust as free meal program ends nationwide