Public school students to get free school meals

Students in Clovis and Portales public schools will not be charged for daily breakfast and lunch meals, regardless of school zone or family income as both districts take advantage of a Community Eligibility Provision of the National School Lunch Program.

The Portales Municipal School Board adopted the CEP option Tuesday, and Clovis Schools announced in a press release on Tuesday that all students would receive meals free through the CEP.

Officials at both school districts said the CEP is one option among others that qualifying districts could choose.

For the Clovis Municipal School district, the news release stated, the goal of expanding meal offerings brought a change in how the district applied for the CEP. By choosing the free-meals-for-all option, the news release stated, CMS accepted that overall school meal funding would be reduced, but having free meals available to all students was “a trade-off well worth the benefit to families and students.”

In Portales, Superintendent Johnnie Cain recommended that the school board approve the free-meals option on an experimental basis, even though it meant school nutrition programs would continue to run deficits.

“We can try it for a year and see if it works for us,” Cain told the board. In the meantime, he said, the Portales district could cover the deficit with cash reserves.

To qualify for the CEP, at least 40% of a district’s students must come from families that meet low-income criteria, according to information on the National School Lunch Program website.

“No child will be charged for food. It’s one small thing we can do to help our families,” Debbie Westbrook, Clovis schools’ senior director of student nutrition and well-being, said in the press release. “This is the first time ever in our District that we have been able to offer completely free meals under the National School Lunch Program.”

The change also means Clovis families will no longer complete Free and Reduced Meal Application forms, as they have traditionally been asked to do each year, the news release stated.

In Portales, the move to the free meal option will replace having students pay reduced prices for lunches.

Cain said the problem with that approach was that regulations prohibited schools from enforcing students to pay for lunches, and many students would receive unpaid-for lunches.

In Clovis, the news release stated, there had been significant participation in meal programs through programs supported by COVID pandemic funding, which has been discontinued.

As a result, CMS officials began to seek out options to increase meal offerings for student, the news release stated..

The current funding formula will ensure free meals for CMS students until 2026, when CMS will be required to apply for renewed funding, the news release stated.