Pembroke Park commission approves resolution backing free school lunches after Broward rollback

The Town Commission of the Town of Pembroke Park on May 20 approved Resolution 2025-021 directing the town manager to pursue available options so students in Pembroke Park have access to free breakfasts and lunches for the 2025–26 school year.

The move responds to a decision by the Broward County School Board to end a universal free lunch program. Commissioner Jeff Jacobs, citing the town’s student eligibility data, said about 75% of Pembroke Park students qualify for free meals and estimated the town’s cost at “around $60,000.”

“This brings the cost down to very minimal, somewhere around $60,000,” Commissioner Jeff Jacobs said during the discussion. The resolution directs the manager to pursue funding options and authorized the town to act as a backstop if other funding is not secured.

Town staff and other commissioners said the resolution memorializes direction the commission gave at a prior meeting and that grants may exist to reimburse some or all costs. Commissioners generally said they supported preserving meals for children; no commissioner recorded a dissenting vote when the resolution passed.

The motion to approve the resolution was seconded and passed by roll call, with Commissioners Hodgkins, Morissette, Jacobs and Mayor Mohammed voting yes. The resolution includes an instruction for the manager to seek grants and other reimbursement sources but does not itself appropriate a specific funding source on the record.

The commission heard comments that parents sometimes fail to submit forms that would qualify children for free meals, citing language or access barriers; commissioners said outreach to increase completed forms is part of lowering the town’s potential expense.

The town’s next steps per the resolution include the manager pursuing grant opportunities and reporting back on funding options and expected municipal costs for the 2025–26 school year.