Broward school district to end universal free lunches, raise lunch prices
At Tuesday's meeting, the school board was informed that the surplus of federal funds that had been used to offer free lunch throughout the district for the past school year was finally depleted.
For some Broward students, next school year will be the first time in several years that they will have to pay for lunch.
In response to the pandemic, the federal government provided waivers for schools to offer universal free lunch, which expired in 2022. Some Broward schools continued to provide free lunches through the Community Eligibility Program, a nationally funded program for schools where 40% of the student population qualified for free or reduced meals, the Sun Sentinel reported in 2023. Dozens of Broward schools did not qualify for CEP, so for the 2023-2024 school year, the Food and Nutrition Services department applied for a federal U.S. Department of Agriculture pilot program to provide the remaining schools with free lunch. Broward's universal free lunch continued into the current school year.
Mary Mulder, the Food and Nutrition Services executive director, told the school board at Tuesday's meeting that the department had continued with the free lunch program in order to deplete a surplus of funds 'from the COVID years.' Federal rules from the USDA limit the amount of funds the district's nutrition program can have on hand.
It costs about $9 million to provide free school lunch each year.
Hepburn explained that over the past few years, the district 'utilized the strategy of feeding all students to deplete [the fund balance] back to the levels that are appropriate based on the federal government.'
Not only will universal free lunch end for the next school year, the price of lunch will also increase by $1.
School board members voted to increase school lunch prices during Tuesday's meeting. Each meal is now $3 for elementary schools, $3.35 for middle schools and $3.50 for high schools.
According to a school district memo, lunch prices have not increased in 12 years. Food and Nutrition Services runs a self-operating budget within the school district and does not receive money from the district's general fund. The cost of food, equipment, supplies and labor has increased, Mulder said.
Parents will be able to fill out paperwork to apply for free or reduced price lunch starting July 14 at www.myschoolapps.com. Breakfast will remain free for all students.
'It's so vitally important that we have these robust conversations now so there's no confusion as far as parents that need to fill out the paperwork,' said school board member Lori Alhadeff.
School board member Rebecca Thompson showed interest in expanding free universal lunch and encouraged the board to discuss it further. School board members said they would discuss the idea in a future workshop.
'The economic situation of our state is not going to get any better and if there is a way that we can explore this and help families then we should do that,' Thompson said.
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