As the new school year for Escalon Unified School District begins, officials are reminding families to fill out the free and reduced meals application, regardless of income.
The State of California is implementing Universal Meals for students for the 2022-23 school year. All students will be offered one breakfast and one lunch each school day at no cost. The state will reimburse schools for non-reimbursed costs in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), providing the school district has abided by the federal regulations including collecting free and reduced meal applications and adopting a federal provision program where required.
In the EUSD, it is critical for the district’s food service program that meal applications be submitted by families to be reimbursed accurately by the state. Nutritious meals are available to students every school day including minimum days. All meals served must meet strict nutritional standards established by the State Department of Education.
Free or reduced priced meal applications will be collected for the 2022-2023 school year. You can see the application on the Food Service webpage at https://escalonusdnutrition.com and click on the “Meal Applications” link or apply directly at https://escalonusd.rocketscanapps.com/FMA.
Escalon Unified participates in the NSLP and the SBP. This program is run by the USDA, which requires families to complete free and reduced meal applications to be eligible for these benefits. The district would like to continue to offer meals to all students at no charge, but to do so must be able to report effectively on free and reduced eligible students.
Households may turn in an application at any time during the school year. Each child’s eligibility status from last school year will continue into the new school year for up to 30 school days or until the school processes your new application, or your child is otherwise certified for free or reduced-price meals. After the 30 school days, your child will have to pay full price for meals, unless the household receives a notification letter for free or reduced-price meals. Students will continue to eat for free but any other potential services will no longer be available.
The district is also participating in the Provision 2 federal program this school year, which enables schools to provide meals to students at no cost under the USDA guidelines. This program will assist the school district in receiving accurate reimbursements from the USDA and the State. To participate in Provision 2, the district will collect meal applications from families for the 2022-2023 school year and then will go back to collecting Education Benefit Forms for the following three years during the program.
Nutrition snacks are not part of the food service program in the 2022-23 school year and will not be available in the cafeteria. The middle and high school will have a small selection of a la carte snack items for purchase. Students will need to bring their own snack to school.
