Anti-hunger advocates worry that President-elect Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans will roll back a federal program that feeds thousands of Kentucky students.
The Community Eligibility Provision provides federal dollars to feed all students at a school, or group of schools, if a certain share of students already qualify for food stamps or other income-based aid.
In Kentucky, 165 public and private school systems use CEP, feeding around 597,000 students.
Since CEP began under the Obama administration in 2010, supporters say the program has ensured more kids can eat as food costs rise, and cut down on administrative burdens for school districts and parents.
“It removes our barriers for students to be able to eat, regardless of income,” said Michelle Coker, long-time School Nutrition Director for Fayette County Public Schools.
“Rolling it back would be a very difficult challenge,” she said.
Some Republicans in Congress have their eye on scaling back CEP. A March 2024 budget proposal from a group of House Republicans calls for axing CEP completely, saying cuts would ensure benefits go to “truly needy households.”
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Republican U.S. Rep. James Comer of Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District said Comer “remains committed to ensuring children have access to meals they rely on for their health and well-being.” But Comer’s office did not directly answer a question from KyCIR as to whether he would support or oppose rolling back CEP.
U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional District and the state’s only Democratic representative in Washington, said in an emailed statement he would oppose any effort in Congress to roll back the program and “continue pushing to expand eligibility for free meals through CEP.”
The offices of Republicans Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul did not respond to a request for comment by our deadline. Neither did spokespeople for Republicans Rep. Hal Rogers, Rep. Brett Guthrie, Rep. Andy Barr or Rep. Thomas Massie.
Eliminating CEP is also a goal in Project 2025, an ultra-conservative playbook for Trump’s first 180 days in office published by the Heritage Foundation.
Project 2025 authors opined that federal school meal programs have strayed from their original purpose of feeding low-income children and “represent an example of the ever-expanding federal footprint in local school operations.”
Trump distanced himself from the document during his campaign, but since his election has tapped several authors of Project 2025 for roles in his administration.
With Republicans taking control of the White House and both chambers of Congress in January, some worry CEP could soon find itself in the crosshairs.
“To be able to feed children should be a no-brainer. And we don't want to go backwards. We can't go backwards,” Melissa McDonald, executive director of the anti-hunger nonprofit Feeding Kentucky told KyCIR.
McDonald said CEP provides relief for families who may not qualify for food stamps (SNAP) or free or reduced-price meals, but still struggle financially.
“They may have a parent … working three jobs, and they still can't make enough money to provide breakfast and lunch for their child, but they may not be on SNAP benefits,” she explained.
The program also ensures low-income students can eat even if their parents don’t complete an income verification form, McDonald said. That’s especially important for students in non-English-speaking immigrant families, who have language barriers or worry that filling out the form could impact their immigration status.
Receiving free or reduced-price school meals is not used against immigrants in their green card applications under the 2019 Public Charge Rule. But many families don’t know that, or are fearful anyway.
Community eligibility also reduces the stigma around receiving a free lunch, McDonald said, and cuts down on logistics and lengthy lunch lines, since all students can walk through the buffet line without stopping to pay or give staff an ID number.
For many years, schools were eligible for CEP if at least 40% of their students were from low-income families. Districts could also “cluster” schools with varying demographics to qualify. For example, a school where 20% of students were low-income could group with another school that was 80% low-income, and both schools would be eligible for CEP because overall, 50% of students would meet the income requirements.
In 2023, the Biden administration made the program more lenient and reduced the threshold to 25%. Since then, more Kentucky districts and private schools have taken advantage of the funding, according to McDonald.
Costs still limit how many students districts can extend the benefit to, according to Coker, in Fayette County. The program provides reimbursement for a limited number of students beyond the income threshold: 1.6 multiplied by the percent of students that already qualify for income-based aid, which the feds refer to as the Identified Student Percentage (ISP). So while a school with 25% ISP, or low-income students, may technically be eligible for CEP the reimbursement from the federal government may not be enough to cover meal costs for all students. This school year 58 out of 67 FCPS school sites are using CEP, Coker said.
In JCPS, administrators say a school or cluster of schools must be 59% low-income for the federal reimbursements to cover the costs of extending free meals to all other students.
Katie Embree, director of School and Community Nutrition for the Kentucky Department of Education, said there are several ways the federal government could roll back CEP.
Trump’s administration could move the ISP threshold back up to 40% — which she said wouldn’t have a significant impact in Kentucky.
Embree said she’s more worried about changes to the multiplier, which the Trump administration could reduce to 1.3 without Congressional approval. That would mean CEP would offer less funding and likely force some schools to leave the program.
“School budgets are tight,” Embree said.
Changes to other federal safety net programs like SNAP or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) could also impact CEP if fewer families qualify for assistance under the new rules.
Congress has yet to reach an agreement on a new U.S. Farm Bill, which includes funding for SNAP.
Lawmakers could cut CEP entirely, but that would require an act of Congress.
