As parents prepare for the upcoming school year, the school meal program will once again be providing free and reduced-cost meals for low-income families.

The reduced-cost meal program is available for families making less than 185% of federal poverty guidelines, while the free meal program is available for families making less than 130% of the federal poverty guidelines. For 2025-2026, the poverty guideline is $15,650 of annual income, increasing by $5,500 per household member. For a family of four, that places reduced lunch qualification at $1,144 of weekly pay and free lunch at $804 of weekly pay.

Applications are available online through district websites. Translated applications for non-English writers are available through the United States Department of Agriculture’s website.