Los Angeles Unified is in the State of California, which has universal free meals, so all students receive meals at no charge. To enhance the school meal service, the district offers multiple choices daily for breakfast and lunch: three to seven items, including fresh fruits and vegetables. LAUSD introduced fruit and vegetable bars at some elementary schools and, by March 2023, all elementary schools will have them. It has also implemented innovative initiatives at secondary schools like offering smoothies three days a week, and In February/March of 2023, it will be introducing ramen bowls. School menus are student-tested and approved as part of a commitment to serving student-approved menus. LAUSD provides vendor food-testing events twice a year with student-approved food items appearing on the menus later in the year. For example, the last food-testing event occurred in November 2022 and new menu items will appear in March/April 2023.

Miami-Dade County Public Schools implemented CEP (Community Eligibility Provision) starting in the 2022-23 school year.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) continues to participate in Community Eligibility Provisions (CEP), making school meals accessible to all students at no charge, and has expanded its halal and kosher meals to additional schools per requests of school communities. Also, as of SY23, the district’s food service is managed by Aramark and Open Kitchens, thereby diversifying its services to satellite schools, which have less meal prep infrastructure. It has also increased its stakeholder engagement efforts to collect more quantitative and qualitative feedback on school food experiences to better inform its short and long-term menu planning and has adopted the Good Food Purchasing Program (GFPP) principles as it continues year over year to strive to improve its standing in each value category such as. local economies, valued workforce, environmental sustainability, animal welfare and nutrition. While it has reports that it has done well working with local economies and nutrition categories, its goal is to work with more diverse and smaller producers. The district also hopes to build upon its successes through more local GFPP program collaboration and data gathering. Ahead of the current school year, CPS officials sampled 2,100 students at 41 schools across the city representing a large group of diverse students and had them taste-test items like blueberry smoothies, baked potato with chili and cheese, Asian Noodle Salad, Chicago Ham Frittata, Pierogi, cheeseburger pizza, breakfast tacos, veggie pasta salad, BBQ tofu, chilaquiles and other menu options.

CCSD participates in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) of the federal Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act district wide and is providing free school meals to all students during the 2022-2023 school year.

For FY23, Broward County moves to a hybrid model of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) by

implementing the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a non-pricing meal service option for

schools and school districts in low-income areas that allows the qualifying schools and districts to serve

breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household meal applications.

Schools that do not qualify for CEP will continue operating the National School Lunch and Breakfast

Program with universal free breakfast; however, applications aree required to establish student

eligibility in the Free and Reduced National School Lunch Program. 

OCPS continues to grow and build, adding two high schools and a middle school this school year with two elementary schools and another middle school slated to open before the end of 2022. 

HCPS was approved for the current school year for Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) at 174 school sites, so the majority of district students receive free meals, an important benefit since the USDA waivers that allowed all students to receive free meals for the past two school years ended on June 30. At the non-CEP sites, families need to fill out the free and reduced-price meal application to receive free meals and the program says It has been a challenge to get parents to understand this requirement after the past two years, receiving fewer applications than expected. It has also experienced a lot of meal charges at the non-CEP schools, probably due to the change back to free and reduced applications as well as the effects of inflation. However, supply chain issues have dramatically improved, and although the program still experiences some shortages, it says is nothing close to what it experienced over the past two years, also noting that food and supply costs continue to increase, but the increase in reimbursement has helped to deal with this challenge.

Among recent initiatives at Houston ISD is a newly created Special Events & Promotions Department to support all Nutrition Services programs by providing marketing material, updated signage, promotional posters, meal participation contests, fun activities, hosted special events, and social media coverage to spotlight Nutrition Services initiatives. There is also a new School Tailgate Program to re-engage students during meal service and increase meal participation. This special event offers good food, fun games and a unique dining experience for students and faculty. Meanwhile, Lucky Tray Day Promotions have been rolled out to encourage students to eat the offered healthy lunches by showing that meal time can be fun. As part of the promotion, any student who goes through the service line has a chance to win a cool giveaway by finding a sticker on the bottom of their lunch tray that gives them the chance to pick a prize from the promotions table. In other recent news, Houston ISD relaunched both its Salad Bar & Deli Line while the “Create Your Own Salad” concept line encourages students to make good nutritious choices on their own. Finally, the Food and Agriculture Literacy Department hosts student visits to the Mykawa Farm to provide students with a foundational knowledge of food and where it comes from by giving them the opportunity to plant and grow a garden, harvest and prepare produce, and share the bounty.

With the expiration of federal universal free meals, Gwinnett is returning to the paid meal approach with free and reduced priced meals for qualifying students this fall. For the year, the district unveiled and updated menu that is designed to be healthier, more global and plant-focused last August, with items created using feedback from students and parents. New lunch selections include an Asian-themed dish with dumplings in teriyaki sauce, an enchilada empanada and vegetarian plates such as one with locally-sourced watermelon and pinwheels stuffed with spinach, broccoli and cheese. The overhauled breakfast menu has items like oatmeal cups and wild berry scones. Also returning after being absent for a couple of years is the Brunch for Lunch plate offering.

In order to continue to reach as many students as possible with meals, The School District of Palm Beach County began operating under the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) this year, which has allowed it to offer free meals to all students regardless of economic need. The goal this year is to serve more meals to students, and the program says it is well on their way to reaching this goal. In addition, the School Food Service Department has been hyper focused on hiring and retaining staff, hiring 258 staff members since July 1st. Last school year, 19 elementary schools participated in the USDA's Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program, serving over 775,000 fresh fruit and vegetable snacks, while a partnership with the Florida Dairy Council in Fuel Up with Dairy Fridays program featured special dairy breakfast items each Friday from March 4th to April 8th, 2022. All schools offered these featured items as part of their breakfast promotion and menu offerings. Also last year, the program was able to increase the number of schools able to participate in the Afterschool Meals Program from 108 to 193 while the Supper and Snack Program was extended into the holiday pantry distribution for Thanksgiving Break, Winter Break and Spring Break to provide additional assistance during school closure. This past summer, Palm Beach provided meals at 162 sites, serving 664,378 meals as it returned to standard summer feeding operations at the schools that offered summer sessions, camps and grant funded programs.

Last August, Fairfax County announced that 34 of its school sites would be participating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) as implemented under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, and all students enrolled at these schools will be provided a nutritious meal for breakfast and lunch each day at no charge.

MCPS has been focused on getting more plant-forward dishes onto the school meal menu, conducting taste tests with groups of students on possible options..

This fall WCPS continued to operate as normal despite the expiration of waivers that made it possible to provide free meals for all students last year, except that it has had to scale points of service to address the associated decline in participation (serving lines) and suspend some ancillary services (media center coffee bars, for example) due to staffing shortages that continue to challenge the program. Its Innovations Team has been focusing on menu diversification, including tofu/vegan, tightening nutrition requirements in preparation for the shift in standards this coming July 2023, and resuming our pre-pandemic work to adapt menus and service systems to increase customization options. In addition, the program is exploring the feasibility of opening kiosks style meal points in high schools.

In an effort to provide more students free meals, the Department has expanded its Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program from 61 schools in the 2020-21 school year to 92 schools.  Although this officially took place for School Year 2021-22, as all students were offered free meals the previous school year, it was not felt until this year, as it continued the same 92 schools in the CEP program. In addition, the program introduced various themed meals this past semester as part of the monthly school meal program events for School Year 2022-23 and so far, about 43% of HIDOE non-charter schools across the state have participated, which allowed schools to serve a menu item or meal based on the theme of the month. Locally grown ingredients were incorporated when possible and all meals were tailored to meet the USDA meal pattern and dietary requirements. 

CMS School Nutrition Services had a major marketing initiative to inform families of the expiration of federal universal free meals and of the need to complete meal applications.  The department has also focused on hiring staff to try and return to pre-pandemic staffing levels.

Going into Fall 2022, Dallas ISD’s FCNS department retained its CEP designation while its beginning wage increased to $15.00 per hour (up approx. 12% from the 2021-22 school year) and it reduced the number of IW entrees/foods, while introducing new scratch/speed-scratch recipes. Additional innovations included new themed menu lines, an all-new food bus and fresh-cooked meal service for students in the district’s extremely successful ECHS program.  Finally, the district funded “grab n go” meals served to students over district holidays. Dallas ISD FCNS ended 2022 with a “no findings” Administrative Review, the department’s second consecutive “perfect” audit.

PGCPS has returned to charging for school meals and offering free and reduced-price meals based on student eligibility.

This year’s main focus at CFIDS Nutrition Services has been on retaining staff, fighting supply chain issues, and finding a new normal. Its biggest initiative has been to increase the number of lunch periods at all secondary schools. Middle schools have four periods and high schools have six. This change has enabled the program to maintain service levels while struggling to fill vacant positions.

Philadelphia Schools Food Service’s mission of providing nutritious and appealing meals that students want to eat continues despite the ongoing challenges brought about by the pandemic. Plans are underway for the return of the annual student food show where students participate in a day of menu sampling from various K-12 manufacturers to help play a role in menu planning decisions.  Over the past few years, the Food Service Division has shifted to displaying all school menus through an interactive website and app that allows parents and students to translate menus into one of 48 languages, view pictures, and access nutritional information on all menu items. Another feature that has been rolled out this school year is the ability to obtain feedback through comments and item ratings. By utilizing the feedback provided, the program gets closer to reaching students and making data-driven decisions regarding menu selections.

BCPS Food and Nutrition Services had been delivering meals to families at up to 87 sites and 300 community bus routes while schools were closed, while taking in reduced amounts of revenue. Support totaling $4.5 from the ESSER (Elementary & Secondary School Emergency Relief subsidy approved by Congress for COVID-related shortfalls) was provided in FY2020 following the school closure on March 16, 2020. Additional ESSER were used in FY2021 to help cover operating shortfalls caused by continued pandemic related school closures during a significant part of the school year. Meanwhile, BCPS had initiated a four-year pilot back in FY2017 to test the viability of a community eligibility meal program (CEP) at four schools. The pilot expired in June 2020 and the program was expanded to 87 schools in FY2021, though legislation passed by Congress providing free meals for all students in FY2022 made it unnecessary until this year.

The Shelby County Schools Nutrition Services provided more than two million meals to the surrounding community during the COVID pandemic period. Ordinarily, it prepares healthy meals not only for district schools, but also for private schools, charter schools and Achievement School District (ASD) schools.

Cobb County undertook a large marketing campaign to notify parents of the need to complete family meal applications to qualify for free or reduced-price meals. Meanwhile, it implemented a new hiring process by doing hiring events in which applicants completed a quick screening form and then were invited to interview right at the hiring event where, If they qualified, they would be offered a position and assisted with completing the district’s usual application process, something that was determined to be a hurdle for many applicants as the basic application can take over an hour to complete. The initiative allowed the school meal program to hire 30-45 new food service assistants at each event, getting it to being more than 90% staffed after starting the school year at less than 80% staffed. This past fall, the program resumed its usual menus, expanding student options back to pre-COVID levels and including a vegetarian entrée every day, something it would not have been able to do without getting more fully staffed.

Duval County Public Schools Nutrition Program exposes students to various healthy options using flavorful ingredients. Menus are developed with wholesome, minimally processed ingredients using single-source, clean-label products and incorporating locally grown produce. Its nutrition standards are based on the USDA school meal pattern regulations, offering items low in sodium and fat and rich in whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables with a focus on serving local produce.

For the 2022-2023 school year, the district plans to continue to serve meals at no cost to all students by qualifying for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). Reduced COVID- 19 restrictions have allowed the nutrition program to offer even more variety with menus that transition seasonally and introduce a new menu concept called Student Choice in the high schools that gives students a voice in deciding what food concepts are featured and new menu items be available. Student Choice brings the latest food trends to school menus with quarterly voting events.

As gathering student feedback is very important, the nutrition program encourages students to have a say in what is served in their cafés through events like the Food Show, an annual student-focused interactive tradeshow event that allows students to learn, connect and vote on potential new school menu items from the program’s national brand partners.

The nutrition program also continues to partner with local farmers to buy and serve local fruits and vegetables to students, with over 50% of produce used being grown within Florida. Not only does this partnership continue the farm-to-table trend, but it’s an opportunity to introduce students to a wide variety of fresh new foods and flavors while also benefitting the farmers and the entire community.

As an integral driver in providing nutrition education in a fun and engaging way, the district’s nutrition program hosts programs like Discovery Kitchen Cook-Off, which allows students to feel like the top chef on their very own cooking show, and the Get to Know the Grower program, which brings local farmers into the classroom to educate students.

Duval County Public Schools operates under the Universal School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program, Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Program, After-School Snack Program, Supper Program and the Summer Food Service Program.

Northside Child Nutrition Services (CNS) has resumed normal operations, which include the School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program and Afterschool Meal Program at qualifying sites. In the 2022-23 School Year, the program increased Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) to 62 campuses. Another benchmark was adding a CNS Department Facebook.