All CCSD schools offering the National School Lunch Program have been approved for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for the 2022–2023 school year.

CEP is a provision from the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 that allows schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students regardless of individual household eligibility. CEP determines eligibility for school meals using information from other means-tested programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Medicaid among others. CEP schools do not collect meal benefit applications. Therefore, schools will not receive any paper-based meal benefit applications nor will online meal benefit applications be available.

Schools implementing the provision have experienced great success, allowing them to make numerous improvements to their school nutrition programs.

• Easing administrative burden: CEP allows eligible schools to provide breakfast and lunch to all students at no charge, without collecting school meal applications or monitoring eligibility when serving meals. 
• Increasing participation: All children at CEP schools receive meals at no charge, incentivizing participation.
• Improving efficiency: CEP helps lunch lines move more quickly, allowing children more time to enjoy their meal.
• Eliminating stigma: Because all students eat at no charge, no child at a CEP school will ever be singled out among peers as receiving a subsidized meal, receiving an “alternate” meal, or being denied a meal.