Students in Boston Public Schools will be eligible for free breakfast and lunch starting this school year, regardless of their family's financial status.
According to the Boston Globe, the district announced in a press release on Tuesday, lunch and breakfast fees will be waived for all students. The federal program responsible for the free meals is "Community Eligibility Option".
Community Eligibility Option will make it easier for kids to get free meals by not requiring families to fill out burdensome paperwork, according to The Globe. The school district previously offered free or reduced-price meals to students who qualified based on their family's income.
Boston is one of the largest cities participating in the program. It is also available in 10 states and the District of Columbia.
"Every child has a right to healthy, nutritious meals in school, and when we saw a chance to offer these healthy meals at no cost to them, we jumped at the chance," said Mayor Thomas M. Menino in the district press release, the Globe reported. "This takes the burden of proof off our low-income families and allows all children, regardless of income, to know healthy meals are waiting for them at school every day."
According to the Boston Globe, 78 percent of Boston public school students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Many students who do not qualify fall just beyond income limits.
"It allows our staff and our cashiers to focus on what's really important, and that's ensuring students going through the line have the full reimbursable meal, that they have everything on their plate because that's our core business; feeding children," Michael Peck, the director of food service and nutrition for the district, told CBS Boston.
During school lunch students are required to use an ID card or number when attempting to get lunch. According to the Globe, this would make it difficult for classmates to know whether meals are free or being charged to an account. In some cases, though, students pay with cash.
About three-quarters of Boston's 57,000 students last year qualified for a free or a reduced-price lunch. A discounted lunch cost just 40 cents, compared with the full price of $2.25 in elementary schools and $2.50 in middle and high schools.
Last year, the School Department lost about $350,000 in unpaid lunches. According to the Globe that represents more than a third of the nearly $1 million that Boston sold in full- or reduced-priced lunches for the year.
The Food Research and Action Center, an organization that promotes in-school meals, says more students have been taking advantage of the free lunches in other states that have begun the program. Boston school officials are hoping more students will eat the lunches now that they are free, instead of bringing something from home, setting a goal of a 10 percent to 20 percent increase in participation.