Free Lunch for Habersham County School Students

Habersham County public school parents got a pleasant surprise at this week's board of education work session.

Director of School Nutrition Andrea Thomas announced that at the beginning of the next school year, on August 2, no student will have to pay for lunch.

Habersham County Schools have qualified for a program called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). The intent of the program is to improve student access to healthy school meals at no cost to families.

Community Eligibility Provision

The CEP eligibility is based on several criteria. It is based on the number of identified students that are directly certified by the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) for free school meals that do not have to file household meal applications.

Those households that don’t have to file applications are those that receive benefits through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), as well as those students that have been identified through the school district as being in foster care, migrant, homeless, and runaway.

A new eligibility that was added for this year are those students that receive Medicaid FREE health plans. This new eligibility requirement for the program doubled the number of identified students in the school district.

Out of 7,289 students enrolled in the Habersham County School District, over 57% of those students met the criteria as an identified student.

Federal reimbursement

Under the CEP formula, the school district would be federally reimbursed for 92% of the meals claimed at the free rate. The remaining 8% would be claimed at the paid rate. However, there would be some federal reimbursement for those meals as well.

Director of Nutrition Andrea Thomas and Assistant School Superintendent Patrick Franklin explain the free lunch program to the BOE Thursday.Photo byJerry Neace/NowHabersham.com

Due to the federal reimbursement amount through the program, the school district is able to cover the cost for all students to receive free lunches.

Thomas states, “It reduces that social stigma. We don’t just want the free kids going through the line. We want everybody to go through the line. Everybody treated the same. Everybody have access to the same food without any embarrassment for that.”

Applications and charges go away

She states that the lunch charges would go away and there would be no need to collect from parents that were late paying for their students’ lunches.

Thomas tells the board members that they will no longer have to do the applications. “It’s great for families. They don’t have to do the applications. Since we don’t have applications, we don’t have to do the verification process.”

She explains to the board that with no charges, it improves food security for students but also helps families. “It helps families with their budget. It’s going to be a savings to them all.”

Thomas adds that they did a feasibility study and the program is revenue positive because staff won’t have to handle the applications and work through the verification process.

She tells the board members that, “It’s a great thing to be able to give all kids, all students a free breakfast and lunch”.

Win-win

Assistant School Superintendent Patrick Franklin states, “This is one of those few times that it’s a win-win for everybody.”

Franklin anticipates that participation in the school lunch program would go up.

School Superintendent Matthew Cooper states, “Let’s be clear, no one’s going to pay” Thomas confirmed, “That’s correct, no students.”

Cooper explains that even though 8% of the students fall in the category of having to pay for school lunch, due to the federal reimbursement, it will cover all students with free lunch.

Franklin explains to the board members that this program has been around for several years. However, this is the first time that the Habersham County School District qualifies.

Thomas also explained to the board members that the program runs on a four-year cycle. So beginning August 2, the program will run for the next four years and is renewable. Franklin adds that in four years, the school district will be reevaluated. However, he doesn’t see the number of identified students changing very much in that time.

School lunches currently cost students $2.75 each day or $495 per school year. Breakfast is already free to students.