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Maine was one of the first states to pass legislation providing free school lunches to all students after pandemic-era funding expired – a policy that has been adopted in seven other states and is being considered across the country.

But since the law took effect a year and a half ago, some districts have struggled with an unintended consequence: Now that parents no longer need to fill out applications to get their children access to free meals, officials have lost an important source of data on their district’s low-income households – information traditionally used for funding.

The free and reduced-price meal application, a federal form sent home with students at the start of the school year, allows districts to determine what percentage of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

Read more from the Portland Press Herald.

The post All Maine students now get free school lunches. What does that mean for poverty data? appeared first on District Administration.

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