National School Lunch Program 2024-2025 - Free and Reduced Meal Application

• • All children in households receiving benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (formerly the Food Stamp Program) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) (cash assistance) are eligible for free meals.
  • Foster children under the legal responsibility of a foster care agency or court are eligible for free meals.
  • Children participating in their school’s Head Start program are eligible for free meals.
  • Children who meet the definition of homeless, runaway, or migrant are eligible for free meals.
  • Children may receive free or reduced-price meals if your household’s income is within the limits on the Federal Income Eligibility Guidelines. Your children may qualify for free or reduced-price meals if your household income falls at or below the limits on the following chart.

Do the members of your household lack a permanent address? Are you staying together in a shelter, hotel, or other temporary housing arrangement? Does your family relocate on a seasonal basis? Are any children living with you who have chosen to leave their prior family or household? If you believe children in your household meet these descriptions and have not been told your children will get free meals, please call or e-mail Tricia Alston, Social Worker Coordinator at (484) 266-1226 or palston@wcasd.net.

Use one Household Application for Free and Reduced-Price Meals for all students in your household. We cannot approve an application that is not complete, so be sure to fill out all required information.

No, but please read the letter you received carefully and follow the instructions. If any children in your household were missing from your eligibility notification, contact your child’s school caseworker.

Yes! You are encouraged to complete an online application instead of a paper application if you are able. The online application has the same requirements and will ask you for the same information as the paper application. Visit https://www.schoolcafe.com to begin or to learn more about the online application process. Contact your child’s school caseworker (information is attached) if you have any questions about the online application.

Your child’s application is only good for last school year and for the first 30 operating days of this school year, through 10/9/24. You must complete a new application unless the school told you that your child is eligible for free or reduced-price meals for the new school year. If you do not complete a new application that is approved by the school or you have not been notified that your child is eligible for free meals, your child will be charged the full price for meals.

Children in households participating in WIC may be eligible for free or reduced-price meals. Please complete an application.

We may also ask you to send written proof of the household income you report.

Yes, you may apply at any time during the school year. For example, children with a parent or guardian who becomes unemployed may become eligible for free or reduced-price meals if the household income drops below the income limit.

You should talk to school officials. You also may ask for a hearing by calling or writing to: Melisa Kleiman, Director of Pupil Services for West Chester Area School District at 782 Springdale Drive Exton, PA 19341 or at (484) 266-1210.

You, your children, or other household members do not have to be U.S. citizens to apply for free or reduced-price meals.

List the amount that you normally receive. For example, if you normally make $1000 each month, but you missed some work last month and only made $900, put down that you made $1000 per month. If you normally get overtime, include it, but do not include it if you only work overtime sometimes.  If you have lost a job or had your hours or wages reduced, use your current income.

Household members may not receive some types of income we ask you to report on the application, or may not receive income at all. Whenever this happens, please write a 0 in the field. However, if any income fields are left empty or blank, those will also be counted as zeroes. Please be careful when leaving income fields blank, as we will assume you meant to do so.

Your basic pay, cash bonuses, and allowances for off-base housing, food, and clothing, must be reported as income. Exclude combat pay, Family Subsistence Supplemental Allowance, and privatized housing allowances.

To find out how to apply for SNAP or other assistance benefits, visit http://www.compass.state.pa.us, contact your local county assistance office, or call the Department of Human Services at 1-800-692-7462.

•1932 - Some school lunch programs received federal loans and agricultural surpluses.

•1935 Legislation authorized the USDA to purchase surplus farm commodities and distribute them to the school lunch program. By 1939, 900,000 children in 14,000 schools participated in the program. During the late 1930's the Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided labor for cooking and serving lunches.

•1946 - The National School Lunch Act (NSLA) permanently authorized the lunch program. It established a basic meal pattern requirement and required schools to serve lunches free or at a reduced price to children in need.

•1949 - Commodity assistance for the NSLP was authorized to supplement price support and surplus removal programs.

•1954 - P.L. 83-69 established the Special Milk Program (SMP) when funds from the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) were authorized to be used to increase fluid milk consumption among children in non-profit schools.

•1956 - Authorization for CCC funds was increased to $75 million per year (P.L. 84-465). Eligibility expanded to include children in non-profit child care centers, settlement houses, summer camps and similar institutions.

•1960 - P.L. 86-446 authorized funds to reimburse CCC for the SMP and raised the annual funding level to $95 million.

•1962 - Funds for free and reduced-price lunches were first authorized for schools.