Skip To Main Content

Community Eligibility Provision

COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY PROVISION SCHOOLS (CEP)
If your child attends Creekside, Evergreen, Farwell or Shiloh Hills Elementary school we are excited to provide breakfast and lunch FREE for all students. These four schools have qualified for CEP under the new state law HB 1878. Only students at the four CEP schools will receive free breakfast and lunch through this program. Students at all other schools in the Mead School District may apply for free and reduced meals.

Why does one of my children get free breakfast and lunch when another one at a different school doesn’t?

  • Students who are not eligible for free and reduced-price meals, according to the criteria of the National School Lunch Program, ONLY receive free breakfast and lunch if they attend a CEP participating school.

What this means for you:

  • If your child attends one of these schools you do not fill out a meal application for meal benefits, unless you also have children attending another school within the district.
  • We do need all households that have not received notification of free meal benefits through the state directly certified process to fill out an Education Benefits Form. This is available on the same website as our meal applications by clicking on "Apply for Benefits" at https://mead.familyportal.cloud/
  • Why? The Education Benefits Form is critical in determining the amount of money the school receives from a variety of State and Federal programs.
  • If you have any questions, please reach out to Nutrition Services at 509-465-6100.

OSPI COMMUNITY ELIGIBILITY REFERENCE SHEET
The Washington State legislature passed House Bill 1878 during the 2022 legislative session. This new legislation builds on the Hunger-Free Schools Act of 2020. The requirements of this new state law became effective starting the 2022–23 school year. The legislation amended RCW 28A.235.300. See below for the requirements or click here for the full reference sheet from OSPI.

  • CEP Requirement
    • Beginning in the 2022–23 School Year, certain Public Schools will be required to operate the USDA Community Eligibility Provision (CEP).
    • Schools that have an Identified Student Percentage (ISP) of 40% or greater must operate CEP for the four-year CEP cycle.
    • The ISP is calculated as of April 1 each year and is the percentage of Identified Students (students directly certified as eligible for free school meals) divided by the total enrollment of students.