Floretta P. Carson Visual & Performing Arts Academy has announced that all of its students will again be eligible for free breakfast and lunch during the 2026-2027 school year through the federal Community Eligibility Provision, or CEP.
The school will continue its participation in CEP, meaning families do not need to take any further action, submit a meal application or pay a fee for their children to eat breakfast and lunch at school. CEP is a provision of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 that allows schools and districts in low-income areas to eliminate meal applications and serve breakfast and lunch at no charge to all enrolled students.
School officials said the provision frees up food service staff to focus more time on preparing nutritious meals and gives students more time to eat by reducing time spent in the lunch line. Officials also said that ensuring every student has access to a free breakfast and lunch helps more students arrive to class well-nourished and ready to learn.
Meals served at Floretta P. Carson will follow U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines for healthy school meals. The school said that in the operation of its child feeding programs, no child will be discriminated against because of race, sex, color, national origin, age or disability.
How the Community Eligibility Provision works
Under CEP, eligibility is based on a school’s “identified student percentage” — the share of students certified for free meals without an application, largely because their households take part in programs such as SNAP. The U.S. Department of Agriculture lowered the minimum percentage for participation from 40 percent to 25 percent beginning in the fall of 2023, opening the option to more schools.
Federal reimbursement is calculated by multiplying the identified student percentage by 1.6 to determine the share of meals reimbursed at the free rate, with the rest reimbursed at the lower paid rate. Schools that elect CEP can lock in that percentage for four years at a time.
