Students Can’t Learn on an Empty Stomach. Community Eligibility is a Solution.

School meal programs are critical to Kansas kids’ educational success and overall well-being, especially with childhood hunger rapidly increasing. In Kansas, nearly 130,000 children – that is 1 in 5 – do not know where their next meal is coming from.

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is one great tool in the fight against childhood hunger. CEP is a federal program that allows high-need schools to offer breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge. There are countless benefits to adopting CEP:

• Students who participate in school meals benefit from improved health outcomes, better test scores, fewer school absences, and fewer behavioral referrals. 
• Increases participation in school meal programs.
• Reduces stigma as all students receive meals at no charge, regardless of income status.
• Lowers administrative costs by eliminating tracking of meal eligibility and processing free/reduced meal applications. Alternative income forms can be used. 
• Eliminates most unpaid school meals debt.
• Supports innovative breakfast models, such as Breakfast in the Classroom.

But with so many eligible Kansas schools not participating, many of these benefits may go unrealized across the state. A new report from Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, highlights the growth of CEP adoption across the United States, and reveals continued opportunities for states, including Kansas. 

CEP Participation in Kansas:

CEP first became an option for schools to adopt in the School Year 2014-2015. Over the years, participation in Kansas has been low. The dramatic increases seen in 2023-24 and 2024-25 represent a few aspects of the program. During the pandemic, there were federal waivers in place that allowed all students to receive free meals at school. But those waivers ended in June 2022. Later, in September 2023, the CEP threshold for participation was lowered, meaning more schools were eligible to participate in CEP. 

CEP Eligibility vs. CEP Adoption in Kansas:

We celebrate that 177 schools in Kansas adopted CEP in this most recent school year. This means that over 59,000 students across the state had access to nutritious school meals at no cost to their families through CEP. Still, with over 550 schools across the state eligible for CEP, there is still unmet potential for the reach and impact of CEP in Kansas. The Community Eligibility Provision is an effective tool to end childhood hunger and support students’ health and learning.

If you would like to learn more about CEP implementation in your district, or see if your school is eligible, contact Jessica Kejr at jkejr@kansasappleseed.org.