TX AFTER SCHOOL MEALS - As Texas students return to school , more than half are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. That means many are also eligible for a newer and lesser known program called - the Afterschool Meal Program. It allows schools with high poverty populations to serve dinner to all students who participate in afterschool enrichment programs including sports, band, and homework help. But the Texas Standard News reports, out of the 2 ½ million Texas students eligible, only 215-thousand kids participated in the program last year.
Rachel Cooper is a senior policy analyst with the Center for Public Policy Priorities, a Austin-based progressive think tank. She says there’s a couple of reasons the program isn’t more widespread, including the fact that some schools don’t realize it’s out there.
“Unfortunately there are a lot of districts that don’t have afterschool programming available for their kids
because of budget cuts and other things, so they have to have afterschool programming, which we hope every school could have, and then on top of that they could offer at-school meals. That’s the win-win for schools and for kids.”
Cooper adds that schools can join the program at any point in the school year. Schools apply with the Texas Department of Agriculture and the meals are paid for with federal money.
To learn more: Texas Afterschool Meal Program
