Write an article about Broward School Board approves small amount for free lunches .Organize the content with appropriate headings and subheadings (h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6) and made content unique, Retain any existing tags from
As Broward schools end a program that provided free lunches to all students, the School Board agreed Thursday to allocate a small amount — $500 per school — to help soften the blow.
Board members acknowledge that $500 won’t go far, but they said it can be a stopgap until they can persuade more families to fill out the federal paperwork needed to qualify for free lunches.
“Worrying about their next meal should be the last thing on our students’ minds,” said Board member Rebecca Thompson, who brought the request to the School Board.
Students from low-income families in Broward and school districts around the country have been able to receive free- or reduced-price lunches since the 1940’s due to the National School Lunch Program funded by the federal government. From the start of the program until the pandemic, the families had to fill out applications and meet certain income requirements to qualify.
That changed in 2020 when the district received COVID-relief dollars to help districts and families ease the transition from remote to in-person learning. The district has had enough federal grant money for the past five years to provide free lunch to everyone, regardless of income. But that money has now run out, officials said.
So starting this fall, only children whose families fill out the federal school lunch program forms and who meet income requirements will be automatically given the same lunches as other students for free or a reduced price. District officials say they can offer a cheaper lunch, such as a cheese sandwich, to children who can’t pay.
The charge for meals won’t happen immediately when students return to school on Aug. 11. The district has budgeted money to provide free meals to everyone for the first month of school. But to provide free lunches all year would cost about $12 million, which officials say they can’t afford.
Board members say they worry some students have hunger needs, even if their families didn’t qualify or failed to fill out the forms.
But Board member Allen Zeman questioned how useful an allocation of $500 per school would be. With prices that range from $3 for elementary meals to $3.50 for high school meals, the allocation would only provide about 142 to 167 meals per school. Many high schools have more than 2,000 students.
“What I worry about is that this is performative. That we’re going to say to the public, ‘Hey, here’s $500 per school’ without saying, ‘Oh and that’s 160 meals total, which will do nothing for the hunger of students in Broward County, ‘” Zeman told the board.
District administrators say they don’t have data yet on what the true need is. The district is in the process of trying to encourage families to fill out the paperwork for the federal food program, including sharing a pop-up message about signup every time someone goes to the district website.
“Would we like it to be more than 500? Absolutely, but we needed a starting point,” Mary Mulder, director of food and nutrition services, told the School Board. She said the money is coming from sources outside the school food service department’s budget.
“It would be wonderful if we could fund all students, but the money that’s in the food service account still has to be able to cover the cost of expenses, salaries, benefits and equipment,” she said.
Board members say they plan to reconsider the amount of the allocation in a few months after they get a better sense of what the actual need is.
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