Free meals coming to all 10 Princeton schools buildings

Every student at 10 Princeton City Schools buildings will eat breakfast and lunch free during the 2026-27 school year, the district announced Aug. 17.

The change comes through the federal Community Eligibility Provision, a U.S. Department of Agriculture program that lets high-poverty districts serve meals at no cost without collecting household income applications. Families do not need to apply or pay anything for their children to eat.

The district's announcement, signed by food service director Jean Sparks, lists all 10 participating buildings: Evendale Elementary, Glendale Elementary, Heritage Hill Elementary, Lincoln Heights Elementary, Sharonville Elementary, Springdale Elementary, Stewart Elementary, Woodlawn Elementary, Princeton Community Middle School and Princeton High School.

The list spans elementary through high school.

One thing families still need to do

Free meals are automatic. The fee waiver is not. Parents at CEP schools must complete a Household Income Survey to qualify for instructional fee waivers on school supplies and other charges. The district has not announced a deadline for the survey.

Students at the Innovation Center are handled differently. That building is not part of CEP; its students receive free breakfast only, through the Universal Free Breakfast Program, and must submit a traditional Free and Reduced Meal Application to get the fee waiver.

Why CEP and why now

CEP allows schools where at least 25% of students are already certified for free meals through programs like SNAP and TANF to extend free meals to everyone. The program eliminates meal debt, removes paperwork barriers for families and runs on a four-year cycle before schools must re-qualify. Nationally, more than 55,000 schools in over 9,400 districts used CEP during the 2025-26 school year, serving 27.6 million children, according to No Kid Hungry.

Princeton's specific qualifying percentage has not been disclosed.