More than a third of Arkansas' 238 school districts will have the option next year to provide free breakfasts and lunches to all of their students under a new federal program.
So far, only a handful of school districts have applied to be a part of the Community Eligibility Provision, which was passed as part of the federal Healthy Hunger-free Kids Act of 2010. State educational officials said the low participation is partly because district leaders are afraid of losing other funding that's based on data from the current school meals program -- data that would no longer be tracked the same way.
Initially launched in 10 states and in the District of Columbia, the new meal program is expanding to include Arkansas and the rest of the country.
In Arkansas, 83 school districts qualify, but only five had applied by the end of June. The deadline was extended to the end of August, and Arkansas Department of Education officials are hoping they can address the funding concerns so more districts apply.
"The ultimate goal is we want kids to be able to eat, and to eat for free," said Mike Hernandez, the assistant commissioner of fiscal and administrative services at the state Education Department.
Under the Community Eligibility Provision, the state determines which districts are eligible based on how many students rely on food stamps, are in foster care or are considered homeless or migrant. The program requires at least 40 percent of students to be in those categories for a district to participate.
Arkansas currently provides free lunches to the children in those categories. Other needy families can qualify for free or reduced school lunches but must fill out a survey disclosing their incomes. That survey would no longer be needed or collected under the new program.
But those surveys are also used to calculate which districts have the most students from low-income families. And schools receive extra funds based on the percentage of low-income students in their district.
The extra money is provided through the National School Lunch Act, even though the dollars aren't earmarked for the cafeteria. Districts can use the extra money to pay for teachers, tutors and other needs.
Districts where more than 90 percent of students qualify for school-lunch assistance receive more than $1,500 for every low-income student. If between 70 percent and 90 percent of students meet the income requirements, the districts receive about $1,000 for every low-income student. And schools with less than 70 percent of students meeting the requirements receive a little more than $500 for every low-income student.
But there's fear that low-income families will stop filling out financial surveys if their children's meals don't depend on it.
For a district like Little Rock, where more than 14,800 of the more than 23,500 students receive discounted or free lunches, that would put the future of more than $7.4 million each year in question.
"There won't be a problem in 2015 because we'll use the numbers from the last school year to determine the funding for next year," Hernandez said. "Where it becomes a problem is the year after that. We're hoping that we can work with legislators to come up with a law change or a shift during the next session to make sure there's no problem in that funding."
Several states that have piloted the program have reported having trouble collecting financial information from parents if all students automatically qualify for free lunches.
"Lots of states are grappling with how exactly this plays out," Hernandez said. "We're going to have to have some sort of legislative fix."
If school districts don't apply this year, they can still apply in later years. They can also leave the program at the end of any year if they're unhappy or financially strained, according to the program rules on the federal Agriculture Department website.
According to the Arkansas Department of Education's Child Nutrition Unit, the five districts that have applied are Mulberry School District in Crawford County, Harrisburg School District in Poinsett County, Dermott School District in Chicot County, Augusta School District in Woodruff County and Little Rock Preparatory Academy in Little Rock.
In Mulberry, Superintendent Dana Higdon said she didn't have to think very long about her district's participation.
"We try to do as much as we can for the people in the community. In hard economic times, whether people qualify or not, lunches aren't cheap," Higdon said. "This was an easy decision for us."
Of 390 students, 235 qualified for free school meals last year and another 43 qualified for reduced-price meals, Higdon said.
That means the district had to collect and track financial information for more than three-fourths of its students.
Under the new program, that paperwork stops, because all children eat for free, regardless of their economic situation.
But in addition to less paperwork, there's another benefit under the program for districts like Mulberry.
School districts still have to apply for reimbursement from the USDA for the lunches they serve, regardless of what they charge students. But the new program cuts down on complicated formulas and reduces the number of rates the government pays for meals.
Right now, districts receive a different rate of reimbursement for free meals, reduced-price meals and paid meals, with the USDA paying the most for free meals. The Community Eligibility Provision changes that to two levels of reimbursement: free and paid.
Federal officials also realized that under the program less financial information was being collected and fewer students were being counted to determine eligibility. So, for every meal served to a student that receives food stamps, is in foster care, or is homeless or migrant, the districts can ask for and receive reimbursement for 1.6 meals.
For districts like Mulberry, where 60.89 percent of students are in those categories, the district can claim 97.42 percent -- almost all of its meals -- at the highest possible reimbursement rate.
In Harrisburg School District, the numbers weren't as simple, because the poverty was high at some schools and much lower at others, said Dolores Sutterfield, the district's child nutrition director. But the federal government has more than one way to calculate eligibility.
One of those formulas provided enough money to make the program feasible, so the district decided to participate.
"Someday the federal government and the state will realize that providing a child with a nutritious meal is as important as buying them a textbook or providing access to that computer. It is. I believe it's that important," Sutterfield said.
The state isn't going to force schools to provide the free meals, but it wants to be sure district official are aware of the opportunity.
"There are a lot of ways that school districts can work the numbers, but ultimately we can't decide they're going to participate at the state level," said Suzanne Davidson, director of the state's Child Nutrition Unit at the Education Department. "I think it could go a long way in ending some of the stigma students feel when they receive free or reduced lunch and it could make sure more students have nutritious food. But districts have to look at their numbers and decide what to do."
Those who are interested can visit http://cnn.k12.ar.us/whats-new/14-04-22/Community_Eligibility_Provision_CEP.aspx to see which school districts are eligible for the program.
Metro on 07/07/2014
http://www.arkansas…">LIST: Arkansas schools Community Eligibility Provision status