Coffee County to Offer Free Breakfast and Lunch Next School Year Under CEP Pilot

Coffee County Schools will offer free breakfast and lunch to all students next school year under a one-year pilot of the federal Community Eligibility Provision, school nutrition staff told the Coffee County Board of Education on June 9.

The Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, is a U.S. Department of Agriculture option that lets eligible school districts serve all enrolled students breakfast and lunch at no charge without collecting household meal applications, the presenter said.

Why it matters: CEP can increase meal participation and reduce household paperwork, but it shifts some financial risk to districts because a fixed federal reimbursement formula does not cover every meal for every participation level. Coffee County officials said they plan to pilot CEP and reevaluate after one year to confirm fiscal viability.

At the meeting, the district—s presenter explained how eligibility is calculated and the district—s expected reimbursement. CEP eligibility is determined by the district—s identified student percentage (ISP), the share of students directly certified for free meals through participation in means-tested programs (SNAP, TANF), foster/homeless/migrant status, or state-designated Medicaid flags. Coffee County—s combined ISP is 50.67 percent, above the 25 percent threshold required to adopt CEP for all schools as a group.

Under CEP—s formula, the identified student percentage is multiplied by 1.6 to produce the share of meals reimbursed at the federal free rate. For Coffee County an ISP of 50.67 percent yields about 81.07 percent of meals reimbursed at the free federal rate; the remaining roughly 18.93 percent would be reimbursed at the federal paid rate. Using last year—s federal per-meal rates cited by staff, the free lunch rate was $4.54 and the paid lunch rate was $0.53; free breakfast was $2.84 and paid breakfast $0.39. The presenter cautioned those exact per-meal rates for the coming year had not yet been published by USDA.

District financial considerations: The presenter said CEP reduces administrative burden and will likely increase meals served, which raises reimbursements if participation grows. However, CEP can produce a funding shortfall if meal counts do not rise as projected, and participating schools must cover any shortages with nonfederal funds (state, local, or district fund balance). Coffee County—s nutrition program has a fund balance that staff said can offset a gap if necessary; the board was told staff does not currently anticipate dipping into district fund reserves but will seek board approval if transfers are required.

Implementation plan and approvals: The presenter explained districts elect CEP for a four-year cycle but may reapply early if ISP improves. She said the state—s procedures allow the director of schools to approve CEP participation and that she and Director of Schools Michael Hargrove had discussed and supported piloting CEP for one year, after which the board will review financial outcomes. Because the state characterized the action as director-approved, the board struck the CEP item from the consent agenda at the meeting and did not take a formal vote.

Other feeding work: Staff also reported an expanded summer feeding effort using non-congregate seven-day meal packs; a recent distribution at the middle school gave 967 meals in a single Friday distribution and will continue through the summer with schedule adjustments.

What—s next: Staff will implement the CEP election and operate the pilot next school year, monitor meal participation and reimbursements, and return to the board at the end of the year with fiscal results and a recommendation about continuing the program for the full CEP cycle.

Ending: Board members praised staff for the outreach and summer feeding work and asked staff to notify the board if any fund-balance transfers become necessary to cover meal program costs.