Having a plan will ensure both compliance with the law AND the ability to provide healthy, locally sourced meals.

The universal school meals program will launch in the 2022-2023 school year and ensures that all students will be offered a free breakfast and lunch at their school, regardless of their family’s income status. This is fantastic news for students who fall through the cracks of the current programs and helps alleviate the stigma that comes from accepting free food.

The business side of every school district’s child nutrition program will need reworking. Beginning in 2022-23, the State will reimburse Districts for the portion of free and reduced fees that the Federal program does not provide. And that means that every district will need to accomplish the following:

• Participate in the National School Lunch Program, requiring both nutritional and service standards as well as data collection, reporting, and financial management;
• Be prepared to serve more meals for more students, likely requiring more equipment, food sources, and staffing;
• Keep parents and students happy with what is being served;
• Maintain all of the above without encroaching on the general fund;
• Continue to document income status for families so that District’s can accurately document students who qualify for LCFF Supplemental and Concentration funds.

Whether any given district has a high or low count of students who qualify for free/reduced meals, having a plan will be critical to next year’s success. Oftentimes, those districts with high counts of students who qualify have aging kitchens and outdated equipment; while those with low counts have been outsourcing their food preparation to vendors who won’t qualify to participate in NSLP.

TRiGroup, Inc. is prepared with expert staff who can help. We have industry experience having served in management and leadership positions for Child Nutrition Services in public schools and we know what it takes to nourish every child, while managing the bottom line.

For more on this topic, we offer the following resources:

EdSource Article: Free School Meals Here to Stay in California, by Ali Tadayon, July 27, 2021

CA Department of Education: AB 130, Universal Meals