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Last modified: Thursday, August 28, 2008 9:58 AM CDT
Free, reduced meals needed
by Jennifer Johnson • Daily News
For those who need it most, the free and reduced lunch program at school is not always appealing. Parents hold back for any number of reasons, but the benefits go beyond a cheap meal.
For the Breckenridge Public School District, the program is tied to Title I funding through No Child Left Behind. As the number of children who apply for the program grows, so does the federal funding for programs that assist kids in reading and math.
Neil Kusler, business manager for the Breckenridge Public School District, stressed parents should complete the application.
"Even if they do not eat a meal here, it still impacts the revenue that we may generate from the federal government," he said.
The percentage also increases the amount of telecommunications funding for the school.
But if the poverty level of the state has gone down, less money is distributed.
Even if a school district's total numbers have gone up, the total dollars might go down because the state has less to spend, said Kusler.
A turbulent economy is one of the factors playing a hand in Minnesota's poverty level.
Dave Sayler, director of the Wilkin County Family Service Agency, said his team is making an increased number of referrals to the food pantry.
"The numbers on food stamps have also increased," he said. "Even people applying to medical assistance because they've been dropped from health insurance has increased dramatically."
The Minnesota Department of Education reported 262,056 children in the state were enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program last year. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which had the most recent data available for Wilkin County, 33 percent of students were on the free and reduced lunch program two years ago. Participants had to have a household income below 185 percent of the Federal Poverty Guidelines to qualify, which is determined on a scale of 100 to 250 percent.
No information is currently available on Breckenridge students. Parents can pick up the eligibility forms at any school office, and can expect to fill out information that includes their family size and income.
"It's a hard sell to most people," said Kusler. "They don't want to give out their private information."
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