Question: If my school will no longer participate in the free and reduced price lunch program, should I tell my local public school district and, if so, how should I tell them?
Answer: If your local public school district is operating as the food service authority or if you work with your district for the operational and/or administrative purposes of your program, it is likely that you will need to discuss your school’s withdrawal from the free lunch program with your district.
In that case, you will need to notify your local district that you are no longer participating; however, it is not recommended nor required that you provide a reason for no longer participating.
Further, it is not recommended that you discuss your school’s disagreement with and/or inability to sign the recently updated free lunch program forms or hang the new USDA posters.
Question: I’ve been told that if my school no longer participates in the free and reduced price lunch program that I also cannot participate in federal title programs. Is this true?
Answer: No. That is not true. Declining participation in the free and reduced priced lunch (FRPL) program does NOT affect your eligibility to participate in the Title programs under the ESSA. FRPL student data is just one allowable measure the district can use to calculate poverty at your school for participation in Title I. The law allows four alternative ways to measure poverty at private schools.
During the annual consultation with your school district, your school can identify which measure would be best for your school based on what data you have available. The allowable poverty measures are explained here.
