Federal dollars to provide free meals to low-income students in Montgomery County aren’t reaching all of the eligible kids, and for those who miss out, the cost of two school meals per day is going up by about $2.50 to nearly $25 per week.
Only 77 percent of the nearly 36,000 students in the county who qualify for free or reduced-price lunches signed up for the program last school year, according to data compiled for Monday’s meeting of the County Council’s education committee.
Some officials attribute the problem to a lack of adequate communication with the county’s rapidly growing and largely lower-income Hispanic population. Since 2004, their school-age numbers have grown by 14 percent to nearly 30,000 students, compared with minimal growth among black and Asian students, and an 11 percent decline in white students.
The program includes low-income students from families with total income up to 50 percent greater than the federal poverty line. For example, students from a family of four with an income of less than $38,204 would qualify.
Marta Bohorquez moved to Montgomery County from Ecuador in 1997 and spent two years payingfor school lunches until she learned money was available for her two children, now both in college.
“If there’s not someone that greets you in your language and walks you through the system, you are lost,” Bohorquez said. “Kids adapt easily, but the parents do not.”
“Sometimes you have to … explain what’s available, and the fact that it’s OK to use these subsidies,” said school board President Nancy Navarro, explaining the challenges of walking non-English speakers through the maze of available services.
Last year, about $500,000 in child care subsidies went unused in the county due to what Navarro said were similar lapses in communication with Spanish-speakers who could have benefited from the aid.
For those students who go without financial help, a year’s worth of lunchroom fare could now set a family back nearly $1,000 per child after the school board passed slight increases in June to help offset rising food prices. The cost of breakfast went up 5 cents to $1.30, and high school lunch went up 15 cents to $2.65.
