All Jeff Davis Parish schools will be included in a federally funded program that provides free school meals to all students for the next four years.

Beginning this fall and continuing through 2027, all students enrolled in the parish’s public schools will receive a free breakfast and lunch daily regardless of income and without parents or guardians submitting a meal application. All employees and visitors will continue to pay for meals.

Child Nutrition Supervisor Tina Coleman said the meals will be available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Eligibility Provision program which allows the district to serve the meals at no costs to all students regardless of household income. The district will be reimbursed for student meals by the USDA based on the percentage of students eligible under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid programs.

More than 4,000 students will have access to free healthy and well-balanced meals, according to Coleman.

“We have seen a decline in participation in school meals in the past because parents had to pay, now that (financial) burden is off and they do not have to pay to eat,” Coleman said.

Coleman said the program will ensure students are getting healthy meals they need for free.

“School meals are important to all students because they get the nutrients they that need,” she said.

Students are introduced to healthy eating habits and new foods that they may not be getting at home or anywhere else, she said.

This year, some high school students will be given the added option of having salads and bento-style lunch boxes.

“We want to try a couple of new things to try to get high school students to come into the cafeterias to eat,” she said.

Good nutrition not only supports a healthy lifestyle, but will help students focus in the classroom, increase test scores and reduce disciplinary problems, Coleman said.

“It is essential to education because if you are hungry, you can’t concentrate or focus on what you need to be doing,” she said.

In the past, the cost of school meals was based on a family’s income with some students paying full-price, some paying a reduced price and other qualifying for free lunch.