Stephens County High School Students Added to Free School Meals Program

All Stephens County Schools are now qualified for the Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP, program offering free student breakfast and lunch meals. 

Currently, Big A Elementary, Liberty Elementary, Toccoa Elementary, Stephens County 5th Grade Academy, and Stephens County Middle School participate in the free meal program. Stephens County High School students will receive free meals beginning with the 2024-2025 school year.

Kim Caudell, School Nutrition Director, stated, “The CEP program intends to improve student access to healthy school meals at no cost to families. The free meal applies to an entire reimbursable meal. If a student chooses any a la carte or extra items, they would continue to pay and purchase those particular items.”

The Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) directly certifies the number of identified students who qualify for free school meals. The CEP numbers are calculated based on students who receive benefits through the SupplementalNutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), as well as those students who have been identified through the school district as being in foster care, migrant, homeless, and runaway.

Several factors have changed in how schools and districts qualify for CEP. The minimum identified student percentage lowered from 40 percent to 25 percent. This year, school districts were also able to include students who receive Medicaid Free health plans. This new eligibility drastically increased the number of identified students in the school district.

As a result, all students, households, and schools in Stephens County will have the opportunity to experience CEP’s benefits, such as increasing access to school meals at no cost, eliminating unpaid meal charges, minimizing stigma, and streamlining meal service operations. The CEP program runs on a four-year cycle and then the numbers will be reevaluated.

Caudell stated, “Under the new CEP formula and with the support of federal reimbursement, we look forward to serving breakfast and lunch at no cost to all students in Stephens County next school year. Families will not have to complete free meal applications to qualify.”