IDEA Public Schools announced Tuesday a change to its policy for serving meals to children served under the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program for the 2022-2023 school year.
Schools qualifying to operate the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) provide breakfast and lunch to all children at no charge and eliminate the collection of meal applications for free, reduced-price, and paid student meals. This new approach reduces burdens for both families and school administrators and helps ensure that students receive nutritious meals, a news release said.
The two Permian Basin schools that qualify are IDEA Yukon and IDEA Travis.
“Through the Community Eligibility Provision, we can ensure that more students will receive nutritious meals every day without burdening our families and school administrators,” said Fernando Aguilar, VP of the Child Nutrition Program at IDEA Public Schools. “Free meals for more students mean that they will have the energy they need to get through each school day as they progress on the road to and through college.”
Given the recent tools, economic data, and formulas provided by Texas Department of Agriculture to help school districts identify students receiving benefits from the state, the IDEA CNP department was able to identify schools for the upcoming school year, the release said.
