National School Lunch Program
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is a federal child nutrition program that has nutrition guidelines for meals for children and provides reimbursement to sponsors or schools that operate NSLP. The reimbursement is from the federal government and helps offset the cost of providing meals to children. The NSLP has been a long-standing federal program, and next to SNAP, it is the most accessed federal nutrition program in the United States.
The West Virginia Department of Education is the State Agency that oversees the administration of NSLP in West Virginia.
For more information and facts on the NSLP, please check out this resource from the USDA: USDA National School Lunch Program Fact Sheet
County Boards of Education in West Virginia participate in the National School Lunch Program.
Any non-public school wanting more information about the NSLP should contact Natasha Jones at njones@k12.wv.us.
Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) in West Virginia Public Schools
Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a federal meal pricing benefit. CEP allows schools in areas of high need to serve breakfast and lunch to all enrolled students at no cost and without collecting household applications.
For more information on which county boards of education in West Virginia have elected CEP for the 2022-23 school year, please see the map below and keep this in mind:
Blue counties on the map mean all public schools operated by county boards of education are 100% CEP and those public school students all qualify for free school meals through NSLP.
Gold counties on the map mean that certain public schools operated by county boards of education are CEP in the 2022-23 school year. For more information on this click here.
For more information from the USDA on CEP, please visit: Community Eligibility Provision
