All CPS students, regardless of family income, will now receive free lunch this fall thanks to a federal reimbursement program. The high-number of students who live under the poverty-level in the district qualified CPS to be fully reimbursed for lunch by the US Department of Agriculture.

If a student eats lunch on a certain day, the district gets reimbursed for that meal and if they don’t eat, there is no cost associated with that meal, according to CPS.

The program, called the Community Eligibility Option, aims to encourage more students to participate in the school meal program while lowering costs for the schools. All schools or districts nationwide who have more than 40 percent of students who are homeless, foster children, or live in households that receive food stamps qualify for this program. Nearly 90% of CPS students fall under these qualifications which makes the whole district eligible. CPS participated in the program last year, but is expanding the program to cover all 658 schools.  They will also be reimbursed more per lunch, receiving close to $3.

CPS officials also say that providing free lunch to everyone will eliminate the fraudulent free and reduced lunch applications that CPS receives from schools who receive incentives for reporting higher poverty levels.