(WESTLAND, MICH.) Apr. 22, 2025 –
Breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students at Wayne-Westland Community Schools currently comes free of charge. According to state officials, recent proposals from congressional Republicans may put that funding at risk.
A list of proposals published by House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) included significant cuts to the School Breakfast Program (SBP) and National School Lunch Program (SBLP), along with raising the fence for a federal program that reimburses schools for free meals.
From these cuts, Wayne-Westland may see an increased administrative workload that makes families wait longer to receive meal benefits, and possibly lose access to a piece of their federal reimbursement for free meals.
Since 2018, Wayne-Westland has benefited from the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a provision through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The provision makes it easier to subsidize meals by allowing schools to qualify through a sampling method as opposed to independently verifying each student’s family income. It is used based on a school’s Identified Student Percentage (ISP), the number of students who cross a certain poverty threshold and receive aid from other programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Under current CEP guidelines, schools must show 25% of their students receive aid from other programs to qualify for eligibility. The proposals aim to raise this threshold to 60% of their students.
The district has acknowledged that changes may be coming. “Universal free breakfast and lunch could be one of the cuts,” said Interim Superintendent Jennifer Curry and district CFO Jewell Clair in an interview.
For years now, Michigan has funded universal free meals for all students in order to bridge a gap created by a loss in pandemic-era federal funding, allocating $200 million for this year alone.
The potential loss of CEP qualification presents a bigger challenge for maintaining the level of funding their students receive, and have worried WWCSD officials about what they will be able to provide their students in the future.
“If and when any changes are made in funding, the Budget will have to be reanalyzed to first meet legal obligations and then prioritize the rest,” says Curry and Clair.
Wayne-Westland is a significant under-performer compared to the national average for several demographics – including household income, families earning below the poverty level, and families receiving food stamp or SNAP benefits. According to the national center for education statistics, 31.8% of Wayne-Westland families receive food stamps or SNAP assistance – more than 10% higher than the state and national average.
Using data from USDA and state agency reports, a database from the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) shows that under the current guidelines, Wayne Westland qualifies nearly 10,000 students for CEP across 17 schools.
Under the proposed 60% guideline, an applied district-level report from the FRAC shows WWCSD could lose over 3500 eligible students.
Threats of funding losses and a more strenuous process to achieve meal assistance present a significant threat to districts like Wayne-Westland, especially amid the district’s above-average levels of students that require assistance.
Systematic research from the NIH has linked universal school meals to several metrics including attendance and academic performance, along with diet quality and food security.
In addition to hiked requirements for CEP qualifications, Arrington’s proposals included a requirement for families that are approved for meal assistance at non-CEP schools to include documented proof of income along with their school meal application.
This means that if Wayne-Westland were to lose their CEP qualifications, families would need to go through a more strenuous process to regain their aid status, as well as an increased workload for administrators that may slow the verification process.
