Dallas School District to Provide Free Meals for All Students

With 159,000 students, the Dallas Independent School District has a lot of mouths to feed. According to the Dallas Morning News, the district has participated in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) free meal program since 1980. Over the last three decades, families have had to apply for free or reduced price breakfast and lunch, because eligibility was determined by income. In Dallas, these applications are now a thing of the past as the USDA now offers a no-cost meal option for all; beginning this year, no families in the district will need to submit applications. Meals are now free for all 159,000 students thanks to the federally funded program.

Eliminating Stigmas

The Dallas Independent School District is not the first district to participate in the new program, as other Texas districts have recently signed on, but the Dallas Independent School District is definitely the biggest to benefit from the new option.

Dora Rives, the district’s executive director of food and child nutrition services, is very optimistic about the program and said, “It’s a wonderful benefit. It’s about paperwork and efficiencies, but I think the biggest winners in this are going to be students.” She feels the new guidelines will decrease disparity amongst students since everyone, no matter their income or family size, will be paying nothing. She stated, “Now everyone will go through the line, and students won’t think he has money and I don’t.” It is important to note that only meals are free. Students will still need to pay for additional snacks, if desired.

The Dallas Independent School District realized that it was time to participate in this program after reviewing how many students already received free and low-cost meals. In past years, a family (four members) was considered eligible for free meals if their income was less than $30,615.

Last year alone, 89 percent of the district’s student body was eligible for free and reduced price meals. Of the 89 percent that already participated, only 5 percent received reduced price meals while the rest received free meals. Administrative costs continued to increase as more students became eligible so joining the no-cost program was actually more “cost effective.” Each year, the Dallas district spends $300,000 on staff to process applications and other associated duties. With the new program in place, the district will reduce paperwork and labor to the tune of 40 jobs.

Still, the new program has drawbacks. Besides the fact that some people will be losing employment, the district will miss out on profits from the 11 percent of students who formerly paid $2.93 per meal. However, the district schools sell snacks and hope to make some money through that. Also, families still need to complete applications for this year only, and the district will be reimbursed by the USDA for every application submitted ($3.01 for free meals and $2.93 for reduced). After this year, families will receive an extended break from cumbersome food application paperwork until 2017, when the district is set to reapply.

As more schools across the nation are sure to sign up for the no-cost program, especially in urban and high poverty areas, other schools across the globe are also establishing universal lunch programs in order to provide more equitable situations for students. Education News reported that primary students in the Tower Hamlets Borough in East London will soon be receiving free lunches. With Tower Hamlets leading the reform, all primary school students, in the first three grades of school, will receive free lunch throughout the entire country of England. Students have enough to worry about both in and out of school. Providing free meals to everyone takes away at least one burden from overtaxed families.

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