25 April 2023
TOPEKA (KSNT) – Topeka USD 501 will offer free lunches to all students starting next school year – and it’s the first district in Kansas to do so outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nicole Jahnke, USD 501’s general director of child nutritional services, said the idea behind providing students with free lunches is to eliminate lunchroom inequity. Jahnke said it’s an every day mission to offer nutritious food to all students, regardless of their socioeconomic background.
“If you have a child in primary school and they have breakfast and lunch with us, they’ll be saving just under $700 a year per student,” Jahnke said. “And if you have a child in secondary school, it’ll be even more than that. So, it’s quite a big savings.”
The district has been working to expand its Community Eligibility Program, which makes providing free lunches possible, since July. According to Jahnke, the number of students eligible for free meals was over two thirds of the district this year, which is why the program is now district-wide. 16 schools were already “CEP” schools, but now all 28 district schools will offer free lunches starting in the fall of 2023.
There are just under 13,000 students in USD 501, and every single one of them will have the opportunity to have a free lunch at school next year. Jahnke said the program will be in effect for the next four years, allowing the district to feed as many students as possible each day.