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Child nutrition: district warns community eligibility changes could add millions to local cost
Summary
Food-service leaders said many sites that adopted the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) are approaching thresholds that could end eligibility next year; if CEP participation falls, the district could face an estimated multi-million-dollar local cost or meal-price changes.
Child nutrition staff told the board the district operates a large child-nutrition enterprise (67 meal sites; 58 currently on the Community Eligibility Provision) and that several CEP sites may not meet the direct-certification threshold next year. If CEP eligibility ends at those campuses, staff said the board would face an estimated potential cost of about $2.9 million to maintain the same meal coverage.
"We do feel we offer the best value in town," the child nutrition director said, and recommended a modest 50-cent increase in student meal prices for families who are not eligible for free and reduced-price meals to offset inflation and operating pressures.
Staff noted that under CEP all students in a qualifying school receive free breakfast and lunch; if a school loses CEP eligibility, students who qualify as free or reduced will continue to receive meals at no cost, but families who are above eligibility thresholds would need to pay. District child-nutrition leaders also said the federal policy landscape is in flux and that proposals to raise the CEP threshold could further change which schools qualify.
Board members asked whether raising adult meal prices (for staff/visitors) rather than student meal prices could be a revenue source; staff said they would model that option but that the primary revenue driver for the program is student meal pricing and federal reimbursement levels. Staff also noted unpaid meal balances are currently modest (said to be around $35,000–$40,000 in the current year) but that unpaid balances ultimately shift to the general fund if uncollected.
Child nutrition leaders urged the board to consider potential policy actions well before the tentative budget adoption so the district could plan how to handle CEP transitions and meal-price changes.
