Lunch is free for all students in some Florida schools, due to new federal program
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Want a free lunch? Take a seat at your local school cafeteria.
A new federal program is giving Florida’s public schools a way out of verifying whether students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
The solution: expand subsidized meals to include all students whether they can afford to pay or not.
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Known as the Community Eligibility Option, schools and even entire districts can now receive free breakfast and lunch if 40 percent or more of students’ families are identified as low-income.
That includes 83 Duval County schools, 58 schools in Pinellas County and 48 schools in Polk County — to name three of Florida’s 67 eligible counties.
Students whose families receive food stamps, cash assistance or are Head Start eligible automatically count towards a school’s qualifying percentage.
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