Local school districts bring awareness to meal plans for new school year
Schools across the region and across the U.S. are returning to the free and reduced price school meal system after a temporary federal relief policy comes to an end.
As established by federal policy, for a limited duration during the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were allowed to provide free meals to all of their students. Due to the expiration of this federal rule, schools are now required to return to charging regular student meal rates for the upcoming school year. Districts across the nation and state are reminding parents to enroll their children for these benefits.
"To apply for these free and reduced meals, the students have to qualify by supplying their household income level and the number of (family) members living in their household. Or if they receive benefits such as SNAP benefits or cash benefits, then they are automatically enrolled under the direct certifications sent to us by the state," said Kim Terry, food service director for River Road Independent School District.
According to RRISD and Amarillo ISD, families that meet income eligibility can still qualify for free or reduced-price meals by completing the application, and they can re-apply at any point in the school year should familial financial circumstances change.
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In addition to the change in policy, local districts are also encouraging parents to apply due to changes in meal pricing from inflation.
According to Highland Park ISD, they have a smaller change in rate than other area districts due to the fact that they gradually change the pricing annually, said Highland Park ISD Superintendent Jimmy Hannon. For the upcoming school year, a high school student in HPISD would pay $1.80 for breakfast and $3 for lunch, totaling to $4.80 a day on meals without the free and reduced lunch benefits. This totals to $820.80 a year for the average HPISD high school student to eat breakfast and lunch every day for the school year.
If a student qualifies for reduced meal prices, a HPISD student is only required to pay $.30 for breakfast and $.40 for lunch, which totals to $119.70 for the school year, less than a sixth of the full price.
"We know that this will be a transition, with meal plans being free for a number of years through the pandemic and now going back to charging. We know there will be some growing pains, but we are placing as many safeguards in place as we can to alert parents and help families and our students during this transition back to the original policy," Hannon said.
Local districts said to ensure that parents are aware of these changes, they have incorporated the free/reduced-price meals application into the in-person and online school registration process for this year, as well as other notification means including their official websites and social media pages. Amarillo ISD said they also included the addition of emailing registered students' parents of the changes and how to access the application online after their student(s) register.
"Even if you don't think you will qualify, we still encourage everyone to at least apply. You might be surprised to see that you are eligible. We just want to help as many families and feed as many students as we can with these free/ reduced pricing meal benefits," Terry said.
AISD offers paper forms of the free/reduced-price meal application, which will be available at schools, and parents can also complete the application online anytime via this link: https://www.schoolcafe.com/AMARILLOISD
Area districts ask parents to register for the free/reduced-price meal applications by calling or visiting the school that your child is enrolled in, or finding the online application on the district's official website.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Area school districts reintroduce free and reduced meal system
