Canton schools switch to new free meal program because it makes more financial sense

By Leonardo Bevilacqua | Originally published by Mississippi Today

Students in Canton public schools will be fed free meals come August. But for that to continue, district officials say, parents now need to verify their income — a requirement for a federal program that will help cover related costs.

On Wednesday, the district posted a statement on Facebook saying too few parents or guardians completed forms it needs to receive reimbursements to cover meal costs for all students through the Community Eligibility Provision, a federal program for schools and districts in low-income areas. The statement wasn’t entirely accurate.

That bureaucratic hurdle wasn’t necessary before, but Canton schools switched to Provision 2, a separate program that provides more funding if enough parents fill out forms to prove economic need. 

Under CEP, the Mississippi Department of Education and school districts calculate reimbursement amounts based mostly on student enrollment in income-based federal assistance programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, also known as TANF. Enrollment data is shared for verification purposes between school districts, the Mississippi Department of Human Services, and MDE.

All students eat for free under CEP and Provision 2, but the federal government only reimburses a portion of the meals based on documented economic need. School district and state Education Department officials check rolls for federal programs like TANF to calculate the reimbursement amounts for CEP. With Provision 2, school district administrators and state education department officials verify need by reviewing parent forms. District officials generally choose the program that will offer more in reimbursements and cover more free meals for students.

In April, the state Education Department deemed Canton schools eligible for CEP funding for the upcoming academic year. But the formula, based on new federal programs enrollment data, would only cover 65% of students’ free meals for the upcoming school year, Beatty said. At that rate, she said, district officials decided it did not make financial sense to opt into CEP funding.

Beatty said fewer Canton families are enrolled in federal programs like TANF, which means the district gets reimbursed for fewer meals served to economically disadvantaged students under CEP. There may be fewer Canton public school families on federal financial assistance rolls because parents and guardians are earning more money after landing jobs at the Amazon fulfillment center and Nissan plant, which are major employers in Canton. 

Another issue may be that local families’ needs have not declined, but too few parents reenrolled in federal programs like TANF, Beatty said. Either way, the district now needs to verify families’ economic need to continue to be reimbursed for feeding students free meals at school under Provision 2. 

The overall number of Madison County residents receiving federal public assistance has declined. 

MDHS spokesperson Mark Jones said that 626 fewer people received SNAP in Madison County, where the county seat is Canton, between June 2025 and June 2026. A 2025 federal law narrowed SNAP eligibility for the program, adding work requirements for most high school-aged parents or guardians and excluding asylum seekers and refugees from receiving SNAP benefits. That change may help explain the participation drop.

Research from the Food Research and Action Center, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that conducts research on federal child nutrition programs, found less than half of Mississippi school districts eligible for CEP participated.

School districts have to consider operating costs as well as the percentage of low income students to determine if they will be able to break even when providing universal free meals.

The amount of federal aid school districts received through CEP might not cover the costs of free meals for all students and related overhead, especially in light of recent increases in the costs of goods, labor and benefits, said Erin Hysom, a senior policy analyst on child nutrition at the center.

School district child nutrition directors, who oversee food service programs, have to ensure students have nutritious foods while keeping related operating expenses in the black, Hysom told Mississippi Today. “Essentially, they’re running a food business.”

This article was originally published by Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Source: Original Article