Changes to School Lunch Program

For the past year, Stafford has been a CEP (Community Eligible Provision) district, which allows all students, regardless of need, to get free lunch and breakfast. This option is only applicable to districts that serve predominantly low-income students. However, according to the Board of Education (BOE), choosing to provide free meals for all students has left the schools with a hefty deficit in the food services budget (which you can learn more about here). So, the schools are returning to the old way of having families in need fill out the proper paperwork.

In a CEP program, the state reimburses districts for the meals provided, but it's complicated. Not all schools are reimbursed at the same rate, partly because it depends on how many students eat the meals provided. According to Interim Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Laura Norbut, West Stafford School has the highest reimbursement rate. So, she said at the June 2, 2025, BOE meeting, keeping that school as a CEP program makes the most sense. The rest will go back to free-and-reduced lunch programs as most of us understand them.

The main challenge with returning to the old method is communication. Bill Hoff, who has been working as a financial consultant with the district, said that the state sometimes provides the district with information about the people who qualify within the district. The paperwork, however, often entitles students to more than just food. In fact, we wrote about this back in 2023:

• Free Lunch Forms Are About More Than Meals

As of the meeting, the projected deficit for the food services budget was more than $211,000. Clearly, that's not sustainable. Still, the risk of a deficit next year is not off the table. When students run up a tab and don't pay, the schools can try to collect, but it doesn't always work.

Additionally, Dr. Norbut recommended changing the meal pricing at the other schools to be more in line with the surrounding towns:

• $4 lunch at SMS and SHS

• $3.75 lunch at SES

• $2 breakfast at all schools

She said that in Somers, high schoolers pay $4.25, middle schoolers pay $4, and elementary schoolers pay $3.75. She also compared Stafford's rates to those of Griswold, another DRG F district, where breakfast costs $2.50 and lunch costs $4.

The board voted to approve the change.