Every Baldwin County student will now automatically qualify for free breakfast and lunch.

Through the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas, Baldwin County Public Schools has decided to transition away from the free/reduced and paid food models. Moving forward, breakfast and lunch will be served at no cost to all enrolled BCPS students without collecting household applications.

Given the county's poverty numbers and how new calculations are based on involvement in statewide programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), among others, BCPS will ultimately be 85% federally funded for this project, according to Baldwin County Board of Education CSFO John Wilson.

"It made sense to move in this direction," Wilson said, citing that roughly 50% of BCPS students benefit from statewide programs. "There will be some amounts that we'll have to cover locally, but I think that's a good investment in the community.

"Every family is dealing with the same inflationary concerns across the board. This is just one more thing we can do to try to help families across Baldwin County. We're excited about it, and I'm excited Baldwin County is finally in a position to be able to offer this program countywide. In the past, we could offer it within pockets or within certain schools, but there was always hesitation on doing that. We're finally in a position where we can go countywide, and I feel like that's the right thing to do. We're excited to offer this to all students and that all of our schools have a breakfast option for this next school year as well."

Compared to the expenses Baldwin County was covering under the free/reduced and paid concepts, using a five-year model also projecting participation and reimbursement rate increases, Wilson states he feels comfortable this new standard will be sustainable long term. CEP reimbursements are distributed based on the percentage of students categorically eligible for free meals based on their participation in means-tested programs such as SNAP and TANF, per the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"We're in a good position to not only offer it, but to be able to sustain it for the long run," Wilson added. "There's no indication or any desire to go back to the previous model as long as this federal program stays in place."