Springdale School District seeks applicants for free lunch program

FILE PHOTO A child gets a lunch tray Wednesday June 19, 2019 at Parson Hills Elementary School in Springdale.
FILE PHOTO A child gets a lunch tray Wednesday June 19, 2019 at Parson Hills Elementary School in Springdale.

SPRINGDALE -- Big money is at stake for the School District as it encourages families to sign up for the free and reduced-price lunch program by Tuesday.

The district has qualified for additional funding from the state for three straight years because its number of students qualifying for and receiving free and reduced-price meals has been 70% or higher of total enrollment.

Free and reduced-price lunch rates

Here’s the percentage of students who qualified for free and reduced-price lunch in each of Northwest Arkansas’ biggest school districts during the 2018-19 school year:

Springdale: 70.5%

Rogers: 55.1%

Fayetteville: 37.3%

Bentonville: 23.1%

Source: Arkansas Department of Education

The district receives twice as much from the state in enhanced student achievement money than it would if fewer than 70% were enrolled in the program. The difference is $16 million compared to $8 million, said Kelly Hayes, district comptroller.

Springdale's rate last year was 70.5%. Just over 69% of students had signed up for the meal program as of Wednesday, Hayes said.

Students are eligible for the federal program if family income is up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $47,637 for a family of four in Arkansas.

Springdale is the largest district in the state with about 22,200 students. Seventy percent of that is about 15,550. Approximately 200 more students are needed to sign up for free-and-reduced meals to hit the 70% level.

"So we are talking with families, making sure everyone is aware of this," Hayes said.

Districts may use the student achievement money for a variety of expenses. Springdale uses its money to pay for literacy, math and science specialists; student resource officers; prekindergarten and professional development, Hayes said.

The district has been telling families about the program's benefits besides the cost break on meals. Qualifying students may take the ACT twice for free. There also are opportunities for scholarships, free summer camps and waivers on college application fees, according to the district.

The district has promoted these benefits several times on social media. Principals have talked to kids, and letters have gone home to parents, said Rick Schaeffer, the district's communications director.

Students may apply for free or reduced-price meals any time, but only those signed up by Tuesday will count toward the district's official free and reduced-price rate for the school year.

Districts receive enhanced money a year after the one on which funding is based. Any changes in a district's funding level is phased in over a three-year period.

Springdale, for example, would see its funding level drop from $16 million this year to about $13.5 million next school year if it doesn't hit the 70% mark this year, according to Hayes.

About 303,000 of the approximately 478,000 (63%) public school students in Arkansas last year qualified for free and reduced-price lunches, according to the Arkansas Department of Education.

Lincoln and Decatur were the only other Northwest Arkansas school districts that had free-and-reduced rates of 70% or greater last year, according to the Education Department. Lincoln's total enrollment this year is 1,070 students and Decatur's is 525, their superintendents said.

Lincoln's rate has been right at or slightly above 70% for 10 years, according to department data. It's going to be close again this year, said Superintendent Mary Ann Spears.

"We're within a few students," she said.

All of Decatur's students get free meals because the district participates in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Eligibility Provision, which allows the nation's highest-poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.

NW News on 09/26/2019

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