All Cape district students to receive free school meals

The Cape Henlopen School District has been approved for the Community Eligibility Provision, which means all students in the district will now receive free breakfast and lunch on a daily basis without having to submit meal applications.

The CEP, a national program meant to improve students’ health and academic success by providing free, nutritious meals, will be enacted in the Cape district starting Wednesday, Sept. 3, and is guaranteed to stay in effect until the spring of 2029, according to Cape Director of Operations Jason Hale.

“Overall, how this benefits the district is tremendous,” Hale said at a July 24 school board meeting. “It won’t cost us anything, and actually we will generate [more] funding than we have in previous years by participating in this program.”

Families can still opt to add money to students’ accounts for snacks or second servings, but it’s not required.

Through the program, each provided breakfast will contain three components: a fruit, a grain and a milk. Each lunch will contain five: a fruit, a vegetable, a grain, a meat or meat alternative, and a milk.

In order for schools or districts to be eligible for the CEP, their identified student percentage – the percentage of total students who are certified for free meals through the state without a household application – must be at least 25%. 

In the past, this percentage mainly included students from families receiving benefits from SNAP or TANF, students in foster care, homeless children and migrant children, but the program was recently expanded to include students on Medicaid. 

Cape’s identified student population is just over 33%.