Ten West Linn-Wilsonville School District schools will receive free meals next year

The West Linn-Wilsonville School District announced that students at 10 of the district’s 16 schools will receive free meals during the 2024-25 school year.

Made possible through Oregon’s Community Eligibility Provision, these schools will provide free breakfast and lunch to all enrolled students. The program is meant to make it easier for students to receive meal benefits. Instead of each student applying for free and reduced meals, the Oregon Department of Education extends that eligibility to the entire student population using demographic data.

The CEP schools for the 2024-25 school year are Boeckman Creek Primary School, Boones Ferry Primary, Cedaroak Park Primary, Lowrie Primary, Sunset Primary, Willamette Primary, Wood Middle School, Meridian Creek Middle, Riverside High School and Wilsonville High.

Parents and families at the CEP schools do not need to apply for free and reduced lunch if their children attend one of the 10 approved schools.

“Schools are eligible if at least 25% of students are directly certified or otherwise identified for free meals through State channels such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF),” the district said in a message on ParentSquare.

This is a decrease from the 40% threshold the CEP program used to utilize and will greatly expand the number of schools in Oregon with access to free breakfast and lunch. Students at the six schools who didn’t qualify are still able to apply for free and reduced meal benefits through the same process as previous school years.

The school district hopes to continue expanding access to free meals through the program in the future.