The State of California is implementing Universal Meals for students for the 2022-23 school year. All students will be offered one breakfast and one lunch each school day at no cost. The state will reimburse schools for non-reimbursed costs in the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), providing the school district has abided by the federal regulations including collecting free and reduced meal applications and adopting a federal provision program where required.
In the Escalon Unified School District, it is critical for the district’s food service program that meal applications be submitted by families to be reimbursed accurately by the state. Nutritious meals are available to students every school day including minimum days. All meals served must meet strict nutritional standards established by the State Department of Education.
Free or reduced priced meal applications will be collected for the 2022-2023 school year. You can see the application on the Food Service webpage at https://escalonusdnutrition.com and click on the “Meal Applications” link or apply directly at https://escalonusd.rocketscanapps.com/FMA.
Escalon Unified participates in the NSLP and the SBP. This program is run by the USDA, which requires families to complete free and reduced meal applications to be eligible for these benefits. The district would like to continue to offer meals to all students at no charge, but to do so must be able to report effectively on free and reduced eligible students.
Households may turn in an application at any time during the school year. If you are not eligible now, but your household income goes down, household size goes up, or a household member starts receiving CalFresh, CalWORKs, or FDPIR, you may turn in an application at that time. Information given on the application will be used to determine eligibility and may be verified at any time during the school year by school officials. The last four digits of the Social Security number from any adult household or checking that you do not have a Social Security number is required if you include income on the application.
Households that receive Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits, may be eligible for free or reduced-price meals by filling out an application.
Foster children are eligible for free meals and may be included as a household member if the foster family chooses to also apply for the non-foster children on the same application. Including foster children as a household member may help the non-foster children qualify for free or reduced-price meals. If the non-foster children are not eligible, this does not keep foster children from receiving free meals.
Each child’s eligibility status from last school year will continue into the new school year for up to 30 school days or until the school processes your new application, or your child is otherwise certified for free or reduced-price meals. After the 30 school days, your child will have to pay full price for meals, unless the household receives a notification letter for free or reduced-price meals. Students will continue to eat for free but any other potential services will no longer be available.
The district is also participating in the Provision 2 federal program this school year, which enables schools to provide meals to students at no cost under the USDA guidelines. This program will assist the school district in receiving accurate reimbursements from the USDA and the State. To participate in Provision 2, the district will collect meal applications from families for the 2022-2023 school year and then will go back to collecting Education Benefit Forms for the following three years during the program.
Nutrition snacks are not part of the food service program in the 2022-23 school year and will not be available in the cafeteria. The middle and high school will have a small selection of a la carte snack items for purchase. Students will need to bring their own snack to school.
If you do not agree with the decision or results of verification, you may discuss it with school officials. You also have the right to a fair hearing, which may be requested by calling or writing the hearing official: Shelli Nicholas, 1520 Yosemite Ave., Escalon, CA 95320; 209-838-3170.
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