More eligible for free school meals since recession
More than 3.4 million students were eligible for free or reduced-price meals at California public schools last year – a 9 percent increase from two years earlier – indicating the number of families whose incomes have been hit hard by the recession.
Nearly every county in the state saw an increase in the number of eligible students from the 2007-08 to 2009-10 school years, according to an analysis of new state education data released this week by the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health. Statewide, 281,696 more public school students became eligible.
The National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs are federally funded and open to all K-12 students. To qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a student's family income must fall below 185 percent of the
