Why Should Delaware Care?
In Delaware, an estimated 37,680 children deal with food insecurity. In July, Gov. Matt Meyer signed a free breakfast bill into law, which allows public school districts to provide all students with a free breakfast. Despite being the first bill to assist districts in providing free breakfasts, some districts have been serving free meals since the COVID-19 pandemic.
This school year, all Delaware public school students will have access to free breakfasts, regardless of need, after a bill that would expand the program’s eligibility was signed into law by Gov. Matt Meyer in July.
The sponsor of House Bill 91, Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton), called her legislation a “cost-effective measure” that would assist more families with food insecurities, as it would provide students at 83 eligible schools with universal breakfast.
Currently, the federal government covers the cost of free breakfast for schools where at least 40% of students are from lower-income families through a program known as the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP.
Under HB 91, the state government would pick up the cost of the program for any school that doesn’t qualify under the federal program.
For some school districts, such as Delmar, this school year will be the first time they are able to offer free breakfast to all students.
Delmar’s Child Nutrition Manager Amy Evans said the district is excited to be able to offer free breakfasts under HB 91. She said that free breakfasts “gives those students that we don’t know a chance to eat.”
In Delaware, more than 120,000 people are facing hunger — with 37,680 of those being children, or about one in six children statewide, according to Feeding America, an organization that advocates for policies that address food insecurity and works with local food banks.
Evans said the Delmar School District has had to order more cafeteria supplies and place more of the district’s staff on breakfast hours to make sure that all students are able to receive their breakfast.
The staff also returned to school on Labor Day to ensure that breakfasts are ready for students’ first day of school on Sept. 2.
“This might be the only place they get a meal, because we see the need in school cafeterias and the kids that are hungry every day,” Evans said.
Some districts have already provided free breakfast
Although HB 91 allowed some school districts to provide free breakfasts to all students for the first time, others have provided free breakfasts since the COVID pandemic.
In March 2020, the federal government issued a waiver allowing schools to serve free meals to all children, but that waiver expired in June 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Some school districts, such as Christina, continued to offer free breakfasts through the CEP.
Christina Supervisor of Child Nutrition Services Kendall Wagner said the district has seen “pockets” of need increase over the years.
Wagner said the district will also be adding carts in their Wilmington schools this year to make it easier for students to access their breakfast. She believes the district may see an increase in usage in those schools because students won’t have to enter the cafeteria to get breakfast.
Like Christina, the Red Clay Consolidated School District has also offered free breakfasts since the pandemic and uses the CEP to continue offering meals.
But this school year, Red Clay is also providing free school lunches under the federal program.
Jessica Farrand, the director of child nutrition services at Red Clay, said she believes it’ll take a month or two for more families to realize the district is offering free lunches, but the district has already had conversations about what to do if the demand increases.
Farrand said the district has discussed measures, such as adding additional serving lines or adjusting lunch period times to ensure students have enough time to get food and eat.
Although the majority of community feedback on Red Clay’s free school lunches announcement has been positive, Farrand said recent outrage over New Castle County’s property reassessment has caused confusion over how the meals are funded.
“This is a federal program. We don’t receive any dollars from local funds. So the perception that this is happening because of reassessment and property taxes is incorrect,” she said.
How do free breakfasts work?
In the Delmar School District, students can receive their breakfast after the bell and can take it back to their first period class.
The district will also offer a second breakfast opportunity for any student who may have arrived late.
For districts with multiple elementary, middle, and high schools, the structure of when students receive breakfast and where they eat depends on the individual school.
Wagner said Christina school principals may decide that younger grades can eat breakfast in the cafeteria, but older students will go straight to their classrooms. But the majority of the breakfast options within the district are “grab and go,” Wagner added.
The Red Clay Consolidated School District also uses the “grab and go” option. Farrand said the district starts serving breakfast as soon as the first bus arrives and doesn’t stop until the last bus or car drops its students off.
