Free school meals for K-12 students have been a relief for some parents amidst the challenges of the last two years. With the federal waivers allowing no-cost meals expiring on June 30, however, students who do not otherwise qualify for the free and reduced lunch program will be paying for their own meals during the 2022-2023 school year.

At the onset of the pandemic, the federal government put waivers in place allowing school districts across the country to provide meals at no cost to K-12 students, but without them, students and families will have to cover the cost of meals. The Marshalltown Community School District is facing the same reality come fall.

Meal price increases were approved at the last board meeting to keep up with inflation, so a school breakfast in the MCSD will cost $2, and a school lunch will cost $2.85 during the upcoming school year.

Students and families in the MCSD can still apply for reduced rates and free meals, and because the district participates in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), free meals will still be available for all kindergarten through sixth grade students. Students in grades seven and up, however, will not receive no-cost meals unless they qualify.

Director of Food Services Lynn Large said Marshalltown is able to qualify for the CEP program because the district has a high volume of students who require free and reduced meals, but that won’t be the same story everywhere.

“It does impact people, and I’ve heard just about everybody that I’ve talked to, even people who typically don’t qualify for free and reduced, they’ve just said that it’s such a relief to have had those free meals the last couple of years,” Large said.

Providing free meals to students has been something school nutritionists had been hoping for even prior to the pandemic, according to Large, but it hasn’t gained enough traction to make it possible.

“It’s just not something that Congress is willing to support right now,” she said. “I think the more people speak up about how it’s important to them, the better chance we have at making a change in the future.”

Large said the change is something families should be prepared for in the upcoming school year, and she encouraged families to fill out a free and reduced meal application early if they qualify.

The applications will be available July 1 on the Infinite Campus Parent Portal, and qualifying for free and reduced meals prior to the start of the school year can ensure that no unnecessary charges accrue on a child’s account.

“Even though this is a big change and we’re going back to paying for meals, there’s still opportunities for anybody who believes they would qualify financially to still have the opportunity to have a free or reduced-price meal. So, even if they know they don’t qualify for fully free meals, we can also see if, financially, they might qualify for a reduction in meal prices,” Large said. “Hopefully anybody who thinks they could potentially qualify for free or reduced meals will fill out that application, and we can support them in this change.”

Jennifer Smith, a parent and a fourth-grade teacher with the GMG school district, has three children, two in elementary school and one in high school. After adding up the projected meal costs for breakfast and lunch per week, she found it a little concerning.

“For five days, that’s 57 bucks a week for me to feed my kids a meal that really isn’t that great, because I work at the elementary at GMG and so I see how much food the kids don’t even eat because it’s not tasty,” Smith said. “Spending 57 a week and then multiply that by four, four weeks in a month and it’s just — I’m not, I mean, I’m a teacher, and I can’t even afford it, because I know I don’t qualify for free or reduced lunches.”

These costs raise budgeting concerns for Smith and her family, and she said it will affect their meal strategy.

“There’s going to be a lot of kids bringing their lunches, including mine, because I just can’t see paying out $2.30 for a lunch that they’re not even going to eat,” she said. “I just wish that it was something that was going to continue because I know that there are families that can’t afford it but yet, they don’t get to get help either. They don’t make enough to get food stamps or to get free or reduced lunches, but yet they don’t have enough to send money for kids to eat either.”

At this point, school meals will need to be purchased come fall, but financial aid within certain districts could help alleviate stress for qualifying families.

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Contact Susanna Meyer

at 641-753-6611 or

smeyer@timesrepublican.com.