Federal School Nutrition Programs, Free and Reduced-Price Meals.
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the School Breakfast Program (SBP) are child nutrition programs funded by the United States Department of Agriculture. The NSLP and the SBP are designed to promote the health and well-being of children by providing nutritionally balanced, low-cost or no-cost meals to children each school day. The NSLP and the SBP are administered in Washington by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI), and both programs provide reimbursements to school districts for served meals that meet federal requirements.
Household applications submitted by families to schools are used to determine student eligibility for free or reduced-price meals (FRPMs). To qualify for free school meals, a student's family income must be at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). Students whose families have an income between 130 percent and 185 percent of the FPL are eligible for reduced-price meals. Students whose families earn more than 185 percent of the FPL pay full price, but the meals are federally subsidized to some extent.
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act provides an alternative to household applications for FRPMs by allowing schools with high numbers of low-income students to serve free meals to all students. A school, group of schools, or school district is eligible for the CEP if at least 25 percent of its students are identified as eligible for free meals through means other than household applications. The percentage of eligible students identified without using household applications is the identified student percentage (ISP).
Under state law, each public school that has an ISP of at least 40 percent, as determined annually by each April 1, must participate in the CEP in the subsequent school year and throughout the duration of the CEP's four-year cycle.
School Breakfast Programs.
Subject to funding requirements, school districts must implement a school breakfast program in each school where more than 40 percent of students eligible to participate in the school's lunch program qualify for FRPMs. If a school with 40 percent or more of its students qualifying for FRPMs begins a lunch program, the school must begin a breakfast program in the second year after commencing its lunch program.
Learning Assistance Program.
The Learning Assistance Program (LAP) supports the provision of supplemental instruction and services for students who are not meeting academic standards, a term defined to mean students with the greatest academic deficits in basic skills as identified by statewide, school, or school district assessments or other performance measurement tools.
The state provides two types of funding allocations for the LAP: a general LAP allocation, and an additional high poverty?based allocation for qualifying schools. School districts and schools qualify for one or both allocations based on prior years' percentages of students who qualify for FRPMs.
National Board Certification Bonuses.
Teachers and other certificated instructional staff (CIS) who have attained certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (National Board) are eligible for a state-funded bonus for each year they maintain the certification. A qualifying CIS who holds a valid certificate from the National Board for the duration of the 2023?24 school year will receive a bonus of $6,206.
An additional state-funded annual bonus of $5,000 is paid to each qualifying CIS with a valid National Board certificate and an instructional assignment in a qualifying high poverty school. "High poverty schools" are designated in rule by the OSPI and must meet threshold requirements for the percentage of students who are eligible for FRPMs.
Recent School Meals Legislation.
Legislation enacted in 2023 (Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1238, enacted as chapter 379, Laws of 2023) requires school districts, charter schools, and state-tribal education compact schools to provide breakfast and lunch each school day without charge to any student at a qualifying school who requests a breakfast, lunch, or both. A qualifying school is one that provides education services to students in kindergarten through grade 4, and meets student eligibility percentages for free or reduced-price meals. Under the 2023 legislation, the meal provision requirements are phased in over a two-year period: the 2023?24 school year, and the 2024?25 school year.
Additionally, funding provisions for the LAP and National Board bonuses were modified in 2023 to extend eligibility for school districts and schools subject to the meal provision requirements and applicable certificated instructional staff. The extended eligibility provisions were for the 2024?25 and 2025?26 school years.
Providing All Public School Students with Access to Meals Served Without Charge.
Beginning with the 2024?25 school year, school districts, a term that includes charter schools and state-tribal education compact schools, must provide breakfast and lunch each school day to any student at a school who requests a breakfast, lunch, or both. The school districts must provide the meals at no charge to the requesting student and without consideration of the student's eligibility for a federally reimbursed free or reduced-price meal (FRPM). The provided meals must be nutritiously adequate and qualify for reimbursement under the National School Lunch Program or the federal School Breakfast Program, and students are not eligible for more than one meal in a meal service period.
The obligation to provide meals at no charge to requesting students, which lapses if federal reimbursements for school breakfasts or lunches are eliminated, does not apply to schools participating the Community Eligibility Program (CEP) that have not completed the duration of the CEP's four-year cycle, or to school districts that have been exempted from the meal provision requirements by Superintendent of Public Instruction because of showing good cause for not being able to comply.
Corresponding changes are also made to align statutory provisions with requirements to provide meals at no charge to requesting students. Examples include:
Learning Assistance Program and National Board Certification Bonuses.
Funding provisions for the Learning Assistance Program (LAP) are modified as follows for the 2024?25 through 2027?28 school years (instead of through the 2025?26 school year):
For the 2024?25 through 2027?28 school years (instead of through the 2025?26 school year), a qualifying certificated instructional staff is eligible for the high poverty schools annual bonus of $5,000 if they are in an instructional assignment in a school providing meals at no charge to all requesting students that met the definition of high poverty school during the 2022?23 school year.