Photo: File/Hunger Free Colorado / EFE
By: EFE Updated 12 Aug 2022, : 41 pm EDT
California is the first state in the United States to provide free school breakfasts and lunches to all students in its public schools, regardless of family income, as of the next school year.
The state schools have begun to officially implement the California Universal Meals
program, which allows nutrition programs of school districts receive the necessary funds to provide all students with free breakfast and lunch.
The measure seeks to expand the scope of the Program National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the Federal School Breakfast Program (SBP).
California is the first state in the country to decide on this measure, which will help mitigate the blow of inflation in california homes children.
Nicholas Filipas, a spokesman for the California Department of Education, said in a statement that the California Universal Meals program is one of the seven pillars designed “to break the cycle of educational inequity, including nutritional insecurity” in the state.
He added that Meals served must remain nutritious and meet federal meal standards for the NSLP and SBP programs.
In the past, students’ free breakfasts and lunches were awarded based on parents’ income, zip code where they resided the family and the level of poverty in the area surrounding the school.
In 2021, the Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom approved one-time funding for public schools to expand their nutrition services and cooking capabilities, in preparation for the introduction of the p California Universal Meals program in the cycle 2021-2023.
The new measure also forgives all outstanding lunch debts on student accounts.
In the cycle 2020-2021 California public schools had more than six million students enrolled, of which more than 53 % are Latino, according to data from the state Department of Education.
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