To help students during the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government eased restrictions to allow schools to provide students with free meals. These initiatives provide a valuable benefit to hungry students, but because of the way schools measure student poverty, they could make it difficult for policymakers to target funding to schools serving students most in need.

In March, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act allowed the US Department of Agriculture to grant waivers to states to make it “as easy as possible” for children to receive school meals during school closures and remote learning. The waivers, which mimic procedures already available via summer meal programs, allow schools to feed students by allowing parents to pick up meals from schools, delivering meals on bus routes, or entering into public-private partnerships to provide meals to students in rural areas. These waivers also make it easier to serve meals to low-income students in school districts with lower  levels of student poverty. Importantly, these waivers allow schools to provide meals to all students, regardless of whether they are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) or directly certified through participation in social safety net programs. These waivers are still in effect during the 2020–21 school year.

States typically count low-income students by using either the number of students who have submitted FRPL applications or the number of students deemed eligible via direct certification, which links school rosters with public benefit program data, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Because direct certification is an automated process, states that count low-income students using direct certification are able to quickly assess changes in student need. Counts of directly certified students will likely rise, as increased economic hardship and expanded flexibility for the SNAP program have increased SNAP caseloads overall. In a recent report, we use data from several states to estimate that average SNAP caseloads increased by about 9 percent from May through August 2019 and the same period in 2020.

On the other hand, FRPL application numbers are down, and states relying on these data to allocate resources face new uncertainties in student need.

Read the full article about student food security by Emily Gutierrez at Urban Institute.