Nashville public schools are providing no-cost meals to every kid in the district for the next two school years. Metro Schools is using federal ESSER funds to cover the cost of the lunches — budgeted at $7.5 million.
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The district is one of the most diverse local education agencies in Tennessee. More than half of students in Nashville qualify for free or reduced lunch, according to the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth.
Before this new policy, Metro Schools already allowed students to receive meals regardless of their ability to pay, but they racked up a tab in the process.
“If the student doesn’t have food to eat, then we know they cannot concentrate,” says Braina Corke, assistant director of the district’s nutrition services. “They cannot focus on their studies.”
In the past, breakfast was already free for students in Metro Schools. But cafeteria manager Andrea Stratton says expanding that no-cost option is a bigger benefit to students.
“We have homeless students,” Stratton tells WPLN News. “We have students whose parents don’t feed them at night.”
The initiative, she says, also allow kids who normally pack their lunches to get in on the excitement of lunchroom pizza days.
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