Free meal for some to be offered at schools

The Washington School Nutrition Association announced this week that families who qualify for reduced-price school meals will receive breakfast free.

Under the federal school meals program, low-income families who qualify for reduced-price meals pay a maximum of 30 cents for breakfast.

With a $2 million appropriation from the Legislature, the co-pay for Washington students in the reduced-price category will be eliminated this school year. Students will still pay 40 cents for lunch.

“We have stories of children from families in this category who don’t eat because their families can’t pay the 30 cents a day for breakfast and the 40 cents for lunch,” said Gaye Lynn MacDonald, the legislative chair for the school nutrition association. “We hope that this will increase access to healthy meals for our students.”

Washington is the first state to eliminate the co-pay through the federal school meal program, MacDonald said.

Families qualify for free- or reduced-price meals based on annual income.

About half of the nearly 30,000 students enrolled in Spokane schools qualify for the federal meal program, said Doug Wordell, the district’s director of nutrition services. About 75 percent of those students qualify for free breakfast and lunch, and 25 percent are in the reduced-price category.

“This is good news, we’re hoping to see more kids participate in the breakfast program,” Wordell said.

Of the state funding for the program, $950,000 will pay for the 30-cent co-pay for students. The remaining funds will go toward paying school districts a higher reimbursement for the meals, MacDonald said.