Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

This descriptive quantitative analysis will explore patterns in school system decisions around participation in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). This federal policy allows high-need school systems to offer free breakfasts and lunch to all students at no cost to families. School level CEP eligibility is determined by approximating economic need using several factors included the prevalence of family participation in SNAP and other social services. Depending on eligibility, some school systems may need to cover a portion of meal costs that would otherwise have been borne by families, making the decision to opt in to CEP complex for some school systems. Given this, take up of CEP by eligible school systems is far from universal. This paper seeks to identify differences between CEP participant schools and eligible nonparticipant schools as well as to systematically look at trends among schools that joined CEP but subsequently opted out. The findings have the potential to highlight geographic areas and demographic subgroups that are not well served by the program and to identify areas of growth for future school food policy.