With universal access to free school lunches expiring, Frederick County Public Schools employees are preparing to handle confusion among students and families who haven’t had to pay for lunch in two years.
Since March 2020 — when the pandemic closed schools and worsened food insecurity across the country — students of all income levels have been able to get free cafeteria lunches thanks to federal waivers. But in the middle Congressional Republicans retreatthis provision will end before the start of the 2022-23 school year.
FCPS is not raising the price of its meals from pre-pandemic levels, said FCPS budget manager Heather Clabaugh. Elementary students will pay $1.60 for breakfast and $2.65 for lunch. Middle and high school students will pay $1.85 for breakfast and $2.90 for lunch.
The payment model will also return to its pre-pandemic form.
Families with an annual household income at or below 130% of the federal poverty level — about $36,000 for a family of four — will be eligible for free meals. Families whose income is between 130% and 185% of the poverty line will be entitled to reduced-price meals.
The federal poverty level is $27,750 for a family of four.
Clabaugh said she and state administrators were concerned about the logistics of the change.
“There are kids who have been in the system who have never had to have lunch money,” Clabaugh said. “Or even if it is, it’s been two years since you had to do that. You may not remember. Mom and Dad may not remember.”
To qualify for free or reduced-price meals, families must submit an application detailing their household size and monthly income. Sometimes the district will contact applicants to request written proof before issuing an endorsement.
Families paying for meals must manage funds in their students’ accounts throughout the year, something parents and guardians are unfamiliar with.
“We do our best to spread the word,” said Bob Kelly, FCPS’ Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) director. “It’s going to be a little confusing.”
FNS staff will participate in “back-to-school nights” across the county to educate families about the change, Kelly said. Her department also coordinates with the FCPS public affairs team to send virtual reminders and works with principals, who can send reminders to their school communities.
Kelly’s department is urging families to complete their meal benefit applications online, where they will either be approved or denied immediately and won’t need to wait for paperwork to be processed. QR codes on the SNSF website bring parents directly to the app.
But even with all the outreach, Clabaugh said, it’s inevitable that some families who need help won’t fill out the necessary forms. This is especially true among middle and high school students, she said, who receive free and reduced-price meals at a much lower rate than elementary school students.
For the past two years, Clabaugh said, schools were guaranteed that no child would fall through the cracks and go hungry in the afternoon.
“By giving students a free lunch, you don’t worry about missing children,” Clabaugh said. “We don’t have the data to be able to say, you know, X number of students are missed because mom and dad didn’t fill out that piece of paper.”
In the 2021-2022 school year, 27.8% of FCPS students – or approximately 12,500 children – were eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
Students who don’t have money in their accounts but are going through the lunch queue on “autopilot” this year won’t get their meals taken away, Kelly said. FCPS will follow its usual “billing policy,” which includes a 30-day grace period at the start of the school year.
“We know kids who can eat their meals do better throughout the day,” Clabaugh said. “As easy as we can make the system, the better it is for everyone.”
