Thousands more Illinois schoolchildren ate free or discounted cafeteria meals last year as the recession nudged their families toward poverty, and the need shows no sign of slowing.
Schools from Naperville to Elgin and Gurnee report an increase in children seeking fee waivers this fall through the National School Lunch Program at numbers that could exceed the record 922,984 reported statewide last fall.
The impact reaches beyond the lunch line. State law exempts students who qualify for a free lunch from paying most other school-based fees, whether it’s for textbooks or transportation. That can weigh on tight school budgets.
Several administrators said they are braced for the need to continue amid a financial downturn that pushed the nation’s poverty rate to an 11-year high.
“When the economy was booming … a lot of people moved out here on a margin. Well, for a lot of people, that margin is gone. We know those families are still here, and we still have their kids,” said spokesman Tom Hernandez of Plainfield School District 202.
Schools do not take an official count until later this month, but Tribune interviews with two dozen school districts suggest the demand for a free school lunch continues to grow.
Barrington schools reported a 16 percent increase in lunch waivers during the past school year, and this fall already have 125 more applications than the record 1,440 last spring. Elmhurst District 205 saw its applications climb nearly 10 percent last year and collected even more — 665 — since the school year began. And Glenview District 34 received 812 requests for fee waivers this year, continuing a 4.5 percent increase that began last fall.
Contributing to this fall’s increase is a change to federal rules that allow families who qualify for food stamps to automatically receive a free lunch. Previously, eligible families had to return the completed forms and income statements to the school after receiving a notice by mail.
What’s more, food stamp use rose 11 percent in June compared with a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An estimated 35.1 million people — about half of them children — used food stamps that month.
“These are middle-class people who have lost jobs or are working part time. They are going to require services that they never have before,” said Diane Doherty, executive director of the Illinois Hunger Coalition.
Amy, 31, joined the influx of local families who registered for both food stamps and a free lunch. She dressed carefully for a recent trip to her son’s Oak Lawn school district, hoping that her pressed black slacks, pinstriped shirt and heels might help her get a job; In one trip, she signed up her teenager for free lunches and applied for a substitute teaching position.
“They knew I was going to be a teacher, and here I am applying for free lunch,” said Amy, who spoke on the condition that her last name not be used so she wouldn’t embarrass her son.
The single mother and Sunday school teacher worked her way through college by waiting tables and fielding customer calls at a water heater company. But the company relocated, waitressing aggravated a chronic back condition, and Amy, her diploma fresh in hand, confronted one of the most competitive job markets in years.
Fifty teaching applications and not a single phone call later, Amy shelved any reticence about seeking help for her and her sons, 13 and 2.
She registered for a second year of food stamps and sent her oldest to school knowing he would eat a hot lunch. “I said to him, ‘I’m not embarrassed anymore because I’m doing everything humanly possible and we’re still short several hundred each month. It’s either pay the mortgage or get food,'” she said.
State law requires that all public schools offer a free meal to eligible students even if the schools do not participate in the federal lunch program, said Mark Haller, who supervises child nutrition programs at the Illinois State Board of Education. Nearly half of the 1.9 million Illinois students served through the program qualified for a free or reduced-price meal last fall, based on household size and income.
In Elgin School District U-46, nearly a quarter of the 21,016 students who sought fee waivers this fall enrolled directly through the food stamp program, district records show. About 13 percent of the 2,767 teens hoping to eat free or discounted lunches this year in Arlington Heights’ Township High School District 214 came through the new food stamp enrollment.
Financial struggles at home don’t stop at the schoolhouse door, said Keith Pain, superintendent of Frankfort’s Summit Hill School District 161, where the number of students eating free and discounted lunches climbed from 162 in August 2008 to 215 in April. This fall, the southwest suburban district received 242 applications from families that met the income guidelines.
“We have to be much more considerate of anything we do, when we take field trips or do anything that requires a financial commitment on the part of a parent,” Pain said.
Schools have to watch their own budgets. Under state law, students who qualify for a free meal also receive waivers for other school fees, ranging from textbooks to lab fees and busing costs. While the federal lunch program subsidizes school meals at a rate of $2.68 each, schools must shoulder the other costs.
In Palatine’s Township High School District 211, the waivable expenses can total $745 per student: $160 for textbooks and supplies, $170 for school transportation, $350 for drivers education plus $65 if the teen parks on campus.
District officials aren’t complaining about growing numbers of students qualifying for free lunches, though. The alternative is a hungry student who isn’t ready to learn. “They’re getting what they need to be in school,” District 211 spokesman Tom Petersen said.
Barrington High School Principal Stephen McWilliams said he worries just as much about the kids who don’t quite qualify for a free school lunch. Students who skirt the edge of poverty are not eligible for free meals or fee waivers, and some struggle mightily to cover the cost of an AP exam or a homecoming dance ticket.
To help out in those situations, McWilliams relies on funds from school vending machines, grants and the parent-teacher organization.
“The students that are sometimes forgotten are those students right on the fringe,” McWilliams said. “Feeling safe and being fed and having a roof overhead, those are things that cost money. So, we’re trying to do everything we can to try and make sure students have those needs met.”
– – –
8 OF 10 NEED AID IN CHICAGO
Eight of every 10 Chicago public schoolchildren qualify for a free or discounted school lunch this year, according to preliminary results released Friday.
Across Chicago, 81.8 percent of the district’s 408,000 students are eligible for fee waivers through the National School Lunch program, up from 79.4 percent last September, according to initial estimates provided by the district.
This mirrors the upswing first spotted among the dozens of schools that resumed class in summer, five weeks before the rest of the city’s schools.
Within the 143 schools that operate on the year-round schedule, the ranks of students eligible for a free and reduced-price lunch grew from 89.8 percent a year ago to 92.6 percent this fall.
“Obviously the economy has had an effect on us,” said district food service director Louise Esaian. “When you think about the number of children we serve, that’s disconcerting.”
More need a free lunch
The number of students eating free and reduced-price school lunches edged higher in many local districts last year, and appear on pace to climb even more this fall.
Students using the free and reduced-price lunch program %% Percent change Applicants Fall Spring Fall 2008 to Fall School district 2008 2009 Spring 2009 2009 Barrington Community 220 1,236 1,440 16.5% 1,565 (Mundelein) Diamond Lake 76 509 514 1.0% 550 Elmhurst Community 205 581 638 9.8% 665 Elgin School U-46 17,721 19,693 11.1% 21,016 Glenview 34 687 719 4.5% 812 Lemont Township High School 210 57 58 1.8% 67 Mundelein High School 120 545 545 No change 605 Naperville Community 203 1,199 1,459 21.7% 1,770 (Highland Park) North Shore 112 1,027 1,100 7.1% 973 Plainfield Community 202 3,228 3,464 7.3% 3,631 (Frankfort) Summit Hill School District 161 162 215 32.7% 242 (Arlington Heights) Township High school 214 2,077 1,851 -10.9% 2,767 (Palatine) Township High School 211 2,369 2,490 5.1% 2,822 (Gurnee) Warren Township High School 121 650 654 0.60% 758 West Aurora 129 5,585 6,251 11.90% 6,862 (Romeoville) Valley View 365 8,445 8,291 -1.80% 9,326 %% *Preliminary numbers of approved applications. An official count is not reported to the state until later this month.
Illinois school lunches
A record number of Illinois students ate for free or at a discount last year, continuing the steady increase reported during recent years. Nearly half of all the state’s schoolchildren who ate lunches qualified for a waiver.
Students eligible for lunch
FY 2003
Reduced-price: 121,816
Free: 678,801
Percentage of total students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: 42.7%
FY 2004
Reduced-price: 124,443
Free: 712,488
Percentage of total students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: 44.5%
FY 2005
Reduced-price: 123,439
Free: 721,989
Percentage of total students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: 45.2%
FY 2006
Reduced-price: 134,065
Free: 760,718
Percentage of total students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: 45.8%
FY 2007
Reduced-price: 134,656
Free: 745,094
Percentage of total students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: 46.9%
FY 2008
Reduced-price: 137,264
Free: 759,323
Percentage of total students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: 47.1%
FY 2009
Reduced-price: 138,994
Free: 783,990
Percentage of total students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: 48.9%
Qualifying
To qualify for a free school meal, families must meet federal income guidelines.
MAXIMUM HOUSEHOLD INCOME, Family of four
To qualify for free lunch: $28,665
To qualify for reduced-price lunch: $40,793
Reimbursing
The federal government repays schools that feed low-income students.
REIMBURSEMENT RATE, For the 2009-10 school year
$2.68 for a free lunch
$2.28 reduced-price lunch
SOURCES: Illinois State Board of Education; Tribune reporting; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service *Preliminary numbers of approved applications. An official count is not reported to the state until later this month.
DAVID INGOLD, KEITH CLAXTON AND PHIL GEIB / TRIBUNE
———–
tmalone@tribune.com
