Scottsdale Unified School District will be able to offer a new meal service option at four schools next school year that will streamline the process for families to secure no-cost breakfasts and lunches for their students.

Updates to the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) portion of the federal National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs will eliminate the need for Hohokam and Yavapai Elementary, Tonalea Middle and Coronado High School families to apply and qualify their students for free meals, based on participation in specific, means-tested government assistance programs, according to a press release. The Community Eligibility Provision is part of the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. The new program at the four district schools begins in August, when school convenes for the 2024-2025 academic year.

“We are thrilled to be able to add the CEP to the list of food service programs we offer,” Scootsdale Unified School District Nutrition Services Director Patti Bilbrey said in the release. “Implementing CEP at these four, qualifying school sites allows our students to have access to no-charge, high-quality, healthy breakfasts and lunches each and every day of the school year.”

A recent change by the Arizona Department of Education, allowing Medicaid participation to directly certify students, has made it possible for the four schools to now meet the CEP participation threshold.

Based on the new rules, all students at the four schools – approximately 2,000, based on current enrollments – will receive nutritious breakfasts and lunches each school day next school year at no charge.

“We know that kids who aren’t hungry at school learn better,” Bilbrey said in the release. “Making sure that they aren’t permits them to be full participants in their education. Every student, regardless of their family’s income, deserves a hunger-free education.”