Free school meals end, and meal numbers slide in districts

IOWA CITY — Eastern Iowa schools are seeing a slight decrease in the number of students ordering school breakfasts and lunches this year after districts began charging for the meals that were free during the pandemic.

The federal waivers covering the cost of the free meals expired June 30.

When meals were free, schools saw an increase in the number of students eating school lunches and breakfast meals.

This year, more students are bringing meals from home or not eating, according to school nutrition directors.

Also, the number of Iowa students enrolled for free and reduced-price meals — available to low-income families — is comparable to the number who were enrolled before the pandemic.

With fewer students buying school lunches, less money is coming into school nutrition programs, which face increased food expenses, supply chain shortages and higher staff wages.

While some families may not have applied for a free- or reduced-price meals over the past two years because meals were free, some did, so they could qualify for other federal food programs.

In the Iowa City Community School District, school lunches this year cost $3 for elementary students and $3.20 for junior high and high school students. Breakfast costs $2.15 for elementary students, $2.35 for older students.

Alison Demory, the nutrition services director in the Iowa City district, talks about school meal programs and enrollment in the free- or reduced-price meal program.

Q: What does enrollment in the free- or reduced-price meal program look like in Iowa City schools?

A: As of Sept. 2 — compared to last year — we have about 500 more kids who qualify. Our enrollment also is up by about 200 students. We now have 5,480 students who qualify for free meals and 659 who qualify for reduced-price meals.

I think you can look at that a couple of different ways. We know in the last two years when all meals were free, there were probably a number of families who didn’t apply because they didn’t have to.

But we have also worked really hard to get the word out. We had participation in some summer events where we assisted families in applying and emailed and made phone calls to families we thought should have this on their radar.

We try hard to educate families that meals are (no longer) free and get them to apply.

Q: How has the loss of free meals impacted the number of meals served to students?

A: No doubt, we served a lot more breakfast meals when they were free. When you remove that barrier of having to worry about who’s paying for it, kids came to our door in droves.

We served about 3,400 breakfasts a day (last year). We’re up to 2,300 to 2,400 breakfast meals this year. Participation in breakfast continues to climb. We most likely won’t see the number we saw last year when all meals were free.

The same thing is true for lunch. Even though I think our numbers are good, last year it wasn’t unusual to serve 9,000 lunch meals a day. Right now, we’re serving about 8,400.

Q: Schools are struggling to maintain adequate staffing levels in all areas. What does staffing look like in Iowa City’s nutrition department?

A: Right now, I have seven full-time openings out of around 100 employees. At the end of the day, I have a really good team that cares about kids. Our goal every day is to feed kids, and that’s what we do to the best of our ability.

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