YORK, Pa. — The pandemic-era free federal lunch program that offered school districts waivers to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students has now expired.
“I expected it to be extended for another year, but it did not. So, we’re dealing with that," said Kelly Renard with the Dover Area School District.
“For the past two years, about 8,000 of our students have been receiving free lunches, who will now not receive those," said David Christopher with the Cumberland Valley School District.
Officials with the school districts say it’s frustrating because many students rely on school meals.
“Every family is being impacted because, at one point, students did not have to think about whether they had to have money in their accounts or not," said Renard.
School districts are now asking families to apply for the free or reduced-price meal program.
“It’s significant support off of the regular price, breakfast and lunch, that is helpful to families who qualify," said Dr. Todd Stoltz with the West Shore School District.
The program looks at the number of people who live in a household, alongside household income. From that, it is determined whether or not families qualify.
“If a family qualifies through the direct certification process, or through income, they can be qualified for meals at no cost. Other families qualify for meals at a reduced cost which is $.40 cents for lunch and $.30 cents for breakfast," said Renard.
"For reduced lunch, the number I believe is 180% of federal poverty, so it’s a much higher threshold that family income can be in order to receive reduced lunch," he added.