HILLSBORO, Oregon — Starting March 1, Hillsboro School District students will receive breakfast and lunch for free on school days.
"We are running right around 13,000 meals a day," said Nathan Roedel, Director of Nutrition Services for the Hillsboro School District. "We are expecting 3,000 more meals a day going forward.”
The expansion of the meals programs comes from new certification requirements at the state and federal level. Previously, only 14 schools in the district were eligible, but the change means the entire district will be able to offer free meals all the way through the 2026-2027 school year.
Other districts in the area have also expanded their free meal offerings this year. The Beaverton School District announced 10 additional schools joined the program in January, including Aloha, Cedar Park, Conestoga, Elmonica, Five Oaks, Raleigh Hills, Raleigh Park, Southridge and Whitford.
With the start of the expanded program, Roedel said it has been a busy month to ensure that all students have access to healthy and balanced meals.
"We are doing our best to provide choices every day for breakfast and lunch that meet the ‘My Plate’ standards that the USDA puts out, fruits, vegetables, meat, meat-alternate, grains, fluid (and) milk, so those are the things that are part of a complete meal, and we offer those breakfast and lunch every day," Roedel said.
According to the USDA website, the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.