Free Meals for Chatham Students

Chatham public schools making meals free for all its students

By Michael Hobbs

To help children and their families, meals for students in Chatham County public schools will be free of charge during the 2024-2025 school year, thanks to a decision by the Chatham County

Board of Education.

The meals are made possible by federal funds made available by the Biden Administration’s U.S. Department of Agriculture, supplemented with up to $500,000 from the Chatham County Board

of Education.

"Right now, children, families, and communities in North Carolina are being held back by hunger," said Cecile Teague, Director of School Nutrition for Chatham County Schools. "Providing meals at no cost to all students will reduce hunger, all while supporting families working to make ends meet."

In North Carolina about one of every six children is facing chronic hunger and food insecurity. In our state’s most rural counties that number jumps even higher to one of every three children.

Food insecurity is a powerful stressor for families, with potentially devastating implications for child health and development. These include negative impacts on physical, social, cognitive, and

behavioral development. Once children fall behind, they tend to stay behind, even when food security is no longer an issue.

Funding to help children, families

The meals program is funded largely through the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a U.S. Department of Agriculture initiative that allows schools and districts in low-income areas to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students.

While most schools in the Chatham County district qualify for CEP funding, three do not. The Chatham County Board of Education decided to allocate up to $500,000 from reserve funds to

extend the benefit to those three schools: Chatham Grove Elementary, Margaret B. Pollard Middle, and Seaforth High.

"We've wanted this for a long time and we are very excited to be able to do this,” said Teague, who has worked in child nutrition for Chatham Schools for 13 years and recently assumed the

director role.

Superintendent Dr. Anthony Jackson emphasized the program's alignment with the district's holistic approach to education.

"In Chatham County Schools, we are entirely focused on ensuring the success of the whole child," Jackson said. "Providing high quality, nutritious meals is proven to be a conduit for academic success, allowing students to have the energy to be more active and engaged in the academic setting."

Simplifying support for families and children

Under the Biden Administration, the USDA has sought to expand the CEP program nationwide to increase participation in school meals, strengthen household food security, and improve

student diet quality and academic performance. The changes to the CEP program simplify the paperwork burden for both schools and families, helping ensure that all students have equal access to nutritious food during the school day.

While the additional Chatham funding is assured for the 2024-2025 school year, Teague said the school system might seek funding from county commissioners to sustain the initiative in future years.

Republicans want to reject federal funds

The news comes as Republicans running for statewide office have questioned the role of federal funds for North Carolina’s public schools.

Mark Robinson, the 2025 GOP candidate for governor, and Michelle Morrow, the 2025 GOP candidate for superintendent of public instruction, have indicated they would reject federal education funds or have questioned their worth.

WRAL reported on Aug. 16 that Robinson said at a private event that he would turn down federal education funding. During the 2023-2024 school year, North Carolina received $1.7 billion in federal funds to support K-12 education. That amount included $531 million for school nutrition programs.

Democrats want to do more

At the national level, Democrats in Congress have proposed several bills to make free meals more readily available across the country:

1. The School Meals Expansion Act (H.R. 2567) ↗ aims to increase federal funding for community eligibility schools, making the CEP financially viable for all eligible schools.This could potentially benefit districts like Chatham County that are currently using local funds to cover schools not eligible for CEP.

2. The No Hungry Kids in Schools Act (H.R. 3112) ↗ proposes a statewide community eligibility option. This would increase the number of eligible schools within a state while allowing districts to share administrative and operational costs, potentially making programs like Chatham County's more sustainable in the long term.

3. The Expanding Access to School Meals Act (H.R. 3113) ↗ takes a multi-pronged approach to food insecurity by increasing eligibility for free school meals to 200 percent of the poverty line, and increasing funding for community eligibility schools.

These legislative efforts reflect a growing recognition of th importance of universal access to healthy school meals in supporting student well-being and academic achievement. While the

outcome of these bills remains to be seen, they underscore the national conversation surrounding initiatives like the one undertaken by Chatham County Schools.

The decision by Chatham County Schools is one example of local action in the broader context of a national movement toward ensuring that no student goes hungry during the school day and

that food insecurity does not become a chronic stressor affecting their futures.