By Hadley Harbison
In 2018, Buena Vista City Public Schools began serving free breakfast and lunch through the National School Lunch Program. In 2022, schools in Rockbridge County started doing the same thing.
Today, many schools across the country are losing their ability to serve these free meals amid funding cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as SNAP or food stamps. However, local school officials say the program is not at risk here because around 50% of students in these areas still rely on food assistance programs.
The need for these programs has remained constant, according to Buena Vista schools superintendent Heather Ault.
“Cuts in federal food assistance have not really had an impact on our program,” Ault said. “We have been using the program for eight years and our average daily participation remains about the same year to year.”
The reimbursements for free meals are given based on the percentage of students receiving federal aid, according to the website of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Administration. A school must have at least 25% of its students receiving SNAP or other benefits to participate.
remaining food after the lunch service. Photo by Hadley Harbison
Over the past year, more than 100,000 people have lost their SNAP access in Virginia alone, according to the nonprofit group No Kid Hungry. Some schools are having to cut the meal programs because, as families lose aid, schools are dipping below the minimum 25% threshold, or the program has become too expensive to run.
However, schools in Buena Vista and Rockbridge County are not at risk of losing access to this program because their percentages sit at 41% for Rockbridge and 44% for Buena Vista, according to the Virginia Department of Education.
Richard Townsend, the supervisor of school nutrition for Rockbridge schools, said the program works well for the district because of the high number of students who have trouble affording school lunch. Rockbridge County used a “No Kid Goes Hungry” policy prior to the current program, according to Townsend.
Under that policy, the schools were providing meals for every student whose household was having trouble paying, regardless of the extra costs to the district.
“Around one in three kids that came to school were having trouble paying for school lunch, and as a school district we just couldn’t let that happen,” Townsend said. “So, we were eating it on our end. We took a lot of outside donations to help with school debt that we couldn’t cover.”
Between 2023 and 2026, the percentage of students who receive federal aid dropped from 48% to 41% at Rockbridge County schools and from 56% to 44% at Buena Vista schools because of federal cuts to SNAP. Under the current program, every student receives free meals whether they rely on federal aid or not.
However, families in the area are still experiencing the effects of these cuts.
Visits to the Rockbridge Area Relief Association are at a record high this year, according to grocery manager Shadrey Sands. Visitors are coming in because of the combined effect of federal benefits ending and higher grocery prices. RARA has had two thousand more visits than at this time last year, Sands said.
Rising food costs have also presented challenges for the school meal program. The USDA reports that grocery prices have gone up nearly 3% from last year. Those rising costs have caused the district to limit how frequently it serves certain menu items, Townsend said.
“General Tso’s chicken is a very popular menu item, but its high cost makes it difficult to serve regularly,” he said. “At a current cost of approximately $177 per case, offering this item can result in a total chicken expense of around $800 for a single lunch service alone.”
Rockbridge County schools and Buena Vista schools are required to offer all five components: meat/meat alternate, grain, vegetable, fruit and milk. Students must select three components to qualify for a free meal.
Students who don’t eat all of their meal can leave it at a shared table where other students who are still hungry can take it, Townsend said. The table is almost always empty at the end of meal services.
Under the previous meal program, parents with students at Rockbridge and Buena Vista schools had to fill out paperwork at the beginning of each year to ensure their child had access to a free or reduced-price meal.
It was a long, complicated process trying to make sure every student who could participate was signed up by their parents, Townsend said. Some parents also wouldn’t fill out the application.
“I think a lot of parents would turn it down or turn the other way instead of just taking the help that’s there,” Townsend said.
Now, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County schools offer the same meals for every student, regardless of financial need. They track how many students eat the meals and are reimbursed from the Virginia Department of Education at the end of the month.
The program has increased the number of students who eat meals at school, Ault said. By providing the same meals for every student, there is no longer a stigma that only low-income students eat school meals.
It also lessens the financial burden for parents who may not have met the income eligibility requirements but still struggle to pay for their child’s meals each day, Ault said.
Abby Rowsey, whose daughter is a fourth grader at Enderly Heights Elementary School, said the program has been a huge help, giving her family more room in the budget for other expenses besides groceries.
“Beyond the money, I appreciate knowing every child has the opportunity to eat breakfast and lunch without worrying about whether there’s money on their account,” said Rowsey, who is also a member of the school’s parent-teacher organization. “Kids have enough to think about during the school day, and being hungry shouldn’t have to be one of those things.”