LIST: Free meals offered at these East TN school districts

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ( WATE ) — Families preparing for Back to School season in the coming weeks are likely budgeting for meals as well as school supplies. With inflation still impacting some grocery store prices, some may turn to school meals for student breakfasts and lunches.

Last fall, the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, an optional program for eligible schools in the country to provide school meals at no cost to students, was expanded after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lowered the threshold percentage of students in need to just 25%. Previously, it had been 40%. The CEP allows schools or groups of schools to eliminate the need for household income applications for free or reduced meals qualification.

Meals for students are offered at most schools, but they’re not always free or reduced. Several East Tennessee School districts qualify and are currently participating in the USDA’s CEP according to statistics shared by the Tennessee Department of Education; however, not all schools within the qualifying school districts, (noted below with an asterisk *,) are directly participating.

Those school districts as of March 2024 include: Anderson County, Clinton City*, Oak Ridge City*, Campbell County, Claiborne County, Cocke County, Cumberland County, Fentress County, Grainger County*, Greene County*, Greeneville City*, Hamblen County, Hancock County, Jefferson County, Knox County*, Lenoir City*, McMinn County, Athens City, Meigs County, Monroe County, Morgan County, Roane County, Scott County, and Union County.

Here are the larger school districts that offer free or reduced meals for students.

Knox County Schools

• Free and reduced meals: Yes, with application

Knox County Schools Food and Nutrition Services offers an online application (or app connection) for free and reduced meals for students. All children in households receiving benefits from SNAP or Families First can get free meals regardless of income. Children can get free meals if their household’s gross income is within the free limits on the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines, which can be found here along with other FAQs .

Sevier County School System

• Free and reduced meals: Yes, with application.

Parents are encouraged to complete free and reduced lunch applications as always during the initial enrollment period, and after this process is complete, Federal and local funding will again be utilized to allow all students free meals.

According to Sevier County School System’s Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Tony Ogle, the school district does not participate in CEP because they had begun funding school lunches for everyone for most of the school year.

“Beginning last year, school board members and district administration here in Sevier County worked with the county commission to pay for all student meals as a part of our budget,” Ogle stated in an email to WATE 6. “After an initial period of enrollment and applications for free and reduced lunch running through early October, every student was able to eat breakfast and lunch free of charge. The school board and commission have passed a budget that will do the same this year.”

Hamblen County Schools

• Free and reduced meals: Yes

Last spring, free breakfast and lunch meals were provided for all Hamblen County Schools students through the Community Eligibility Provision Program (CEP). As of July 25, the school district’s website still has the December 2023 update on its page.

Blount County Schools

• Free or reduced meals: WATE 6 has reached out to Blount County Schools for more information.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WATE 6 On Your Side.