Five days a week when classes are in session, students in Arizona’s Tolleson Elementary School District can count on a free hot meal to get them through the day.
On a Thursday morning in early August, cafeteria workers prepared steamed vegetables, stirred spaghetti meat sauce and warmed dinner rolls to feed nearly 700 growing students at Porfirio H. Gonzales Elementary School, one of four in the TESD.
In 2022, TESD was approved for the Community Eligibility Provision program. The federal program helps provide free breakfast and lunch to school districts in low-income areas like TESD, where the program helps feed all 2,845 students enrolled in the school.
The first lunch group lined up just before 11 a.m. and Linda Rubalcaba stood with a clipboard, carefully counting each student who lined up to get their lunch.
Rubalcaba knows her way around a school cafeteria – she has worked in school kitchens for 38 years of her life. She said she retired briefly and then decided to make a comeback.
Rubalcaba sees free school meals as a relief for her and a way to help children eat and stay healthy. Rubalcaba says before the CEP program, it was hard to tell children she could only offer them a sandwich because of food debt.
“It was hectic because we had to constantly send reminders to parents,” said Rubalcaba.
She remembers children telling her that their mother or father was unemployed or couldn’t afford their lunch. “Sometimes I paid out of my own pocket and let them eat,” Rubalcaba said.
Tolleson is home to 7,173 residents, of which approximately 22% live in poverty, a rate that exceeds the 20% poverty line, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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“Families and educators say food is expensive right now and inflation is high. They are so grateful,” said Dr. Lupita Hightower, superintendent of the Tolleson School District. She calls the CEP program a blessing.
According to the School Nutrition Association, school meals typically cost $2.83 in elementary schools and about $3.05 in secondary schools.
Melissa Acosta, TESD’s director of dining services, sat next to her daughter during lunch. “Over the course of the week, it adds up,” she said, pointing to the cost of meals for families who don’t live in a school district with free meals.
Low-cost or free lunches for low-income students have been around for decades and have expanded over the years. Currently, eight states, including California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Vermont, have passed laws allowing schools to offer free meals to students regardless of income. And for the first time in Arizona’s history, lawmakers included school meals in the state budget this year.
Rubalcaba said that since the school district began offering free lunch, there has been a positive change in the cafeteria culture and students seem happier.
“We think this is so important because so much money is invested in education, but if students are too hungry to concentrate or pay attention or really benefit from those investments, that’s a loss,” said Alexis Bylander, senior child nutrition policy analyst at the Food Research & Action Center.
A study from the University of Washington found that free school meals can help reduce hunger, reduce the stigma associated with free lunch, and help reduce childhood obesity.
At the height of the pandemic, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved a nationwide waiver allowing schools to offer free lunch to students.
“During those two years, many students, teachers, families and school administrators realized they never wanted to go back to a system where students pay different prices for the same meal,” Bylander said.
In September 2023, the USDA announced it would expand the CEP program. The department relaxed the application threshold for applicants, allowing an estimated 3,000 additional school districts in high-need areas to participate in the program.
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At Porfirio H. Gonzales Elementary School, students are served lemon-flavored water, there is a salad bar, and the kitchen takes meal suggestions. The menu also includes Christmas tamales and pozole. Some students are also eligible for free after-school dinner and snacks.
