Board approves grouping of three elementaries for community eligibility to preserve meal reimbursements

The Sioux City Community School District board voted May 11 to approve a Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) grouping that would lock Hunt, Unity and Liberty elementary schools into a combined free-meal reimbursement rate estimated at 97.94% for up to four years.

Patty Blankenship, who presented the food-service analysis, explained that direct certification percentages used by the state have fallen in recent measurements and that certifying the prior Group 1 and Group 2 sites under current numbers would create a projected shortfall for the district's school-nutrition fund. "If we did nothing and still certified those sites as CEP sites based on the numbers," Blankenship said, the district estimated an additional loss to the school nutrition fund of about $560,000.

Blankenship walked the board through the USDA factor (multiply direct certification by 1.6) and examples showing how the percentage of meals claimed at the free rate is calculated. The administration recommended setting a 60% local threshold for CEP consideration going forward, noting that several other sites fall below that level and that Hunt, Unity and Liberty together meet the threshold needed to claim a high proportion of meals at the free reimbursement rate.

A board member emphasized that certifying a site for CEP does not eliminate free or reduced-price lunch eligibility at other schools; families can still submit applications. The motion to approve the Hunt/Unity/Liberty grouping passed without opposition.

Next steps: the district will recertify the approved CEP sites on the state timeline and continue outreach to families at other schools to ensure access to free and reduced-price meals via application where appropriate.