The Washoe County School District is encouraging families to apply for free meals for this school year. That’s because the state funding that supported free meals for all students has been discontinued for the current school year.
Through Sept. 6, the district will use its own funds to provide free meals to all students according to chief operating officer Adam Searcy.
“We've budgeted about $160,000 for the universal free meals for the first four weeks of school. That comes out of our enterprise fund, this is basically the savings account for nutrition, this doesn't come out of funding that goes into our classrooms.”
Beyond this period, Searcy said families will need to determine which school group the student is in.
“The 35 remaining schools are going to transition this school year to a household based income model wherein you can qualify for universal free meals or you will be expected to pay a modest amount for every meal.”
For students attending schools where meals are already free, no application is needed. These students will continue to receive breakfast and lunch.
Students attending schools like Reno High School or McQueen High School will have to fill out an online application or obtain a paper copy in order to qualify.
For a complete list of schools where students must fill out applications to qualify for free meals, visit washoeschools.net
You can fill out a meal application here.
If your family doesn’t qualify for free school meals, your child can still obtain paid meals through MySchoolBucks.
This PDF from the Washoe County School District can also be viewed and downloaded on Scribd.
