More Alabama schools have become eligible to provide students with free lunch and breakfast following a United States Department of Agriculture rule change.

The USDA has expanded the Community Eligibility Provision, a program that allows every student to receive free school meals so long as a certain percentage of students qualify for free and reduced price meals or are enrolled in SNAP or Medicaid. Prior to yesterday’s announcement, that threshold was 40%. Now, the threshold is only 25%, meaning eight more school districts in the state will become eligible to offer CEP.

“Anytime there is an opportunity to provide nutritious, delicious meals to more students, it is appreciated. Appropriate sustenance is an essential part of learning,” said Michael Sibley, director of communications at the Alabama State Department of Education, in response to the USDA announcement.

In all, there are 102 local school districts, including nine public charter schools, that have enrolled in the federal program for the current school year. Fifty-three of those districts are offering free meals to all of their students for the first time this year.

“Increasing access to free, healthy school breakfast and lunch will decrease childhood hunger, improve child health and student readiness, and put our nation on the path to better nutrition and wellness,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in a statement about CEP expansion.

Meals were free to every student in every school from 2020 to 2022 because of the pandemic. But when schools began charging again in 2022-23, many families didn’t know they would have to pay for meals or didn’t file the required forms for free and reduced-price meals.

Districts amassed large student meal debts as a result, prompting schools to enroll in CEP.

“CEP will allow [child nutrition] staff to focus on their primary role, which is to feed kids,” said Tonya Grier, the CNP director at Dothan City, a district that decided to adopt the program for all of its schools this year. “The time used dealing with money and tracking students who owe funds will be significantly reduced.”

According to Grier, Dothan City’s low-income population has increased since the pandemic. She said her department saw families struggle to pay for school meals and accrue negative balances in their child’s meal accounts.

“We are encouraged that this program will help keep the children of Dothan fed, healthy and ready to learn,” she said.

The eight new eligible districts are: Orange Beach City, Hoover City, Auburn City, Cullman City, Satsuma City, Hartselle City, Shelby County and Pelham City.

Pike Road Schools would also be eligible, but the district does not participate in the National School Lunch Program.

Only five districts in the state are still ineligible to participate in CEP because less than 25% of their students qualify for free and reduced-price meals or are enrolled in SNAP or Medicaid.

Those districts are Mountain Brook, Homewood, Vestavia Hills, Trussville and Madison City.

The remaining 32 school districts in the state have chosen not to enroll, but some, like Jefferson County, have elected to have individual schools participate in CEP. Some of the districts who have not enrolled – including Chilton County, Covington County, Demopolis City and Decatur City – have more than 65% of their student population who qualify for free and reduced-price meals or are enrolled in SNAP or Medicaid.

According to officials, the state will reopen the application for schools and districts to enroll in CEP once they have approval to do so from the USDA. They plan to open applications on Oct. 1 with a deadline of June 30. Newly-eligible schools will need to apply for CEP in order to offer universal free school meals.

For a full list of participating school districts, see below.

Reporter Trisha Powell Crain contributed to this story.