District outlines plan to provide free school meals next year, announces staff-pay increases

Albany County School District No. 1 administrators told the school board at its June meeting that they intend to use federal meal-program rules so all students can eat for free next school year and described a set of pay increases for district employees.

The plan centers on using free-and-reduced lunch application counts to set the district—s reimbursement rate under a federal provision that would allow universal free meals in most schools. "I'm gonna work with Madison and need everybody's help in spreading the word that I need as many free and reduced lunch applications submitted, in August and September of this year," said Miss Green, the district—s finance officer, explaining the timeline to capture the percentage used for October claims and for the following four years.

Why it matters: federal reimbursement rates determine how much the U.S. Department of…