At the latest CGD Board of Education meeting, Vice President Beth Severson praised the school's efforts in maintaining affordable meal prices for students, with breakfast and lunch available for under $3.00 a day.
Despite these lower prices, parents are left wondering why the district has decided to opt out of the USDA’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, which offers district-wide free meals.
The CEP program allows for district-wide free meals only if a certain percentage of students already qualify for free or reduced meals. In 2023, the USDA lowered the district-wide threshold from 40% to 25%. This means if at least 25% of students were eligible for free or reduced meal pricing, the entire district would qualify for free meals.
While CGD does seem to meet the eligibility threshold, the district has decided not to participate in the CEP program for the upcoming school year to better support the long-term health of the nutrition fund and ensure that every student continues to receive high-quality meals.
Nutrition Secretary Rachel Stumpf explained the reasoning behind this decision with The Wright County Monitor.
“While the threshold for meeting program requirements has been lowered, the program reimbursement rates only take into account our students who are directly certified for free meals through the State.” Stumpf shared, “This makes a big difference as we have many students that receive reduced-priced meals or are approved for free meals by application.”
According to Stumpf, if the school operated under the CEP, they would lose state reimbursement on nearly half of the meals they provide. Unlike other districts, CGD cannot offset this loss through the sale of adult meals or a la carte items.
Stumpf further explained that the state does not fully reimburse meals until a school reaches an Identified Student Percentage of at least 65%, whereas CGD currently sits at 35%. This reimbursement gap creates a significant financial strain on the district's nutrition fund. This results in lower quality foods offered.
While the CEP program offers benefits, the financial and operational challenges it poses for CGD are substantial. Other districts might be able to compensate for the shortfall through alternative sales, but CGD lacks this capability, making the program economically impractical under current conditions.
The decision to opt-out is based on consideration of financial repercussions and a need to maintain a balanced nutrition fund.
