As we bid farewell to this year’s graduating class of local high school students, the Yuma Union High School District is preparing for some changes next year.
School meal program have always depended on an alphabet of state and federal programs for funding. Some requiring families to fill out forms to have their kids categorized based on need.
Agency formulas have meant YUHSD students get free breakfast for years, with some students also receiving free lunch. Now the math works out to give all students both meals for free starting in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Elena Hildreth, YUHSD Executive Director of Student Nutrition says reimbursement rates are up, along with the number of students eligible.
The district says it will be taking part in the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) to provide for the costs. CEP is a provision within the National School Lunch Program (NLSP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP), first authorized in 2010 as part of the Healthy Hungry Free Kids Act.
Hildreth says access to meals makes students more social and ends the stigma for kids who may not have enough money for daily meals. She says "lunch-shaming" is an indirect cause of kids, who often spend the entire day on school campuses, choosing to skip eating.
YUHSD will need to hire additional staff at some school sites, but Hildreth says the all-student free meals program means less paperwork for administrators and parents and will be a more efficient program.
