All Tulsa Public Schools’ students will get breakfast and lunch for free throughout the school year starting this fall.
TPS Superintendent Dr. Ebony Johnson made the announcement Thursday at a press conference at Memorial High School.
Johnson said making every pre-K through 12th grade student eligible for free meals could help alleviate chronic absenteeism, among other benefits.
"When a student’s nutritional needs are met, the child is more attentive in class," Johnson said. "[The student] has better attendance, and has few disciplinary problems."
The school district will receive reimbursement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Community Eligibility Provision.
TPS had already been providing free breakfast and lunch to elementary school students for over five years. The new program expands that to all students.
Many district high schoolers were already eligible for free meals, but TPS Board President Stacey Woolley said those students would often be too embarrassed to acknowledge needing assistance.
"We have kids who will just skip lunch rather than being the kid who doesn’t have the money to pay for it," Woolley said.
Woolley and Johnson hope the transition to universally free meals will help undo that stigma.
