Rainier School District students still line up to record that they received a meal, but as of Dec. 1, the federal government is paying for them. Oregon school districts have until Dec. 31 to also qualify for increased reimbursements. (Photo by Jake Arnold, OSBA)
The Rainier School District students grabbed their lunches this week as they always do: Visit the salad bar, pick a hot entrée, then input their names or student numbers on a computer keyboard at checkout.
As of Friday, though, the checkout is just for tabulation. Meals are free for all students, regardless of whether their families have applied for free or reduced-price meals.
Federal rule changes have made it easier for schools to receive more reimbursements for feeding students. Because the rules changed at the start of the school year, the Oregon Department of Education sought a waiver to the usual meal program sign-up deadlines. Schools have until Dec. 31 to apply for a mid-year change to their reimbursement status, and they can use enrollment data from Oct. 1 instead of April.
The Rainier School Board changed the district’s policies Nov. 27 to allow all students free meals.
Board Chair Elaine Placido said the vote was a “no-brainer.” Students are being fed, and the federal government is picking up most of the tab.
Placido said the change will likely end up saving the district money because it will no longer have unpaid lunch debts. It also improves the learning environment. Research suggests school meal programs improve academic performance while decreasing behavioral problems.
The COVID-19 pandemic response spurred increased efforts to provide free meals for more students with less hassle or shaming. The United States hasn’t reached universal free school meals despite some legislative efforts, but new federal rules are allowing schools to feed more students for free.
U.S. Department of Agriculture food programs reimburse schools for meals given free or at reduced prices to students in families that meet low-income guidelines or other automatic qualifications. The “community eligibility provision” allows schools with high numbers of qualifying students to give free breakfast and lunch to all students without filling out individual household applications.
In another shift, Oregon is one of 12 states added this school year to a pilot program that allows schools to use Medicaid participation to automatically enroll students in free meal programs.
Debby Webster, the Rainier nutrition services director, said the Medicaid option is amazing, making it easier to serve families that are struggling but haven’t filled out the food application forms.
“They don’t have the time and energy to take care of it,” she said. “They are in trauma, or they don’t get it turned in. Some are just overwhelmed.”
The district has qualified 159 students through Medicaid out of an enrollment of nearly 900, according to Webster, although some of those students had received meals in the past.
Oregon also gives schools with large populations of qualifying families money for meals through the 2019 Student Success Act. The act pegged the threshold at the then-federal number of 40%. USDA’s lowering of its bar doesn’t affect the act’s standard, but the Medicaid-linked enrollment does make it easier for schools to reach it, including Rainier.
The changes are huge for Rainier. Webster said free meals for students had been a district goal for at least 15 years, but the district kept just missing qualifying for the community eligibility. With the new rules, Rainier qualifies easily. With the Medicaid data, state and federal money will cover nearly 90% of meal costs for all students.
The Rainier School District, about 50 miles north of Portland, has a single campus with one lunchroom for K-12. Students eat in waves over a nearly three-hour period. Signs around the lunchroom announce that meals are free, the only outward indication of the change. Students still must check out as they always have because federal accounting requires just one free breakfast and lunch per student per day.
More than a third of students are still bringing their meals. Webster expects that number to drop some as more parents learn about the free meals, but she said there will always be students or parents who are more comfortable with food from home.
Webster said the real beauty of the changes is that students who are hungry can just get a meal without worry. It doesn’t matter if they left their lunch at home, their personal food account has run dry, or they are just too embarrassed to say they need some help.
The food is there, and they don’t even have to ask.
– Jake Arnold, OSBA
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