OKPOLICY.ORG
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is an option available to most schools and school districts that allow them to serve free meals to more children at less expense. CEP allows schools and districts that serve a certain threshold of low-income students to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without determining eligibility for individual households. Schools are able to use administrative savings to offset any additional costs, over and above federal reimbursements, of serving free meals to all students.
In 2024-25, 844 Oklahoma schools in 267 school districts, serving a total of 277,449 students, participated in CEP, according to data from the USDA. The largest participating districts were Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Lawton, Putnam City, and Midwest City-Del City. In fewer than 20 of the state’s 540 districts are no schools eligible for CEP.
The benefits of CEP include reduced childhood hunger, elimination of school meal debt, reduced stigma associated with free meals, decreased administrative burden for schools, and improved academic achievement, according to a 2022 report from FRAC.
