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Graham ISD is encouraging families to apply for the district\u2019s free and reduced-price meal program ahead of the 2026-27 school year.<\/p>\n
(File Photo)<\/p>\n
With the 2026-27 school year around the corner, the Graham Independent School District is encouraging families to apply for the free and reduced lunch program. For Cafeteria Director Jodi Arispe, the program is a resource that offers more than free food.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis program drives other things \u2014 it helps students with their laptop charges, it helps them with their testing charges,\u201d Arispe said. \u201cThis program drives other programs, so it\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Applications for Graham ISD\u2019s free and reduced lunch program are available online and in person. High school and junior high students generally must reapply each year, though students who qualified last year have a 30-day grace period at the beginning of the school year. Arispe said applications are typically processed the same day they are received.<\/p>\n
According to the cafeteria director, approximately 550 students are pre-qualified for the free and reduced lunch program and 60% of Graham ISD students qualified last year. She said that many parents express concerns about applying for the program or don\u2019t apply at all due to stigma and misconceptions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve it or not, a lot of us don\u2019t realize that this may be the only meal these kids get,\u201d Arispe said. \u201cThey come in and they all can get free breakfast, but sometimes they\u2019re not eating supper and they\u2019re hungry.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really a great program for families \u2014 especially if they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The financial information used to determine eligibility, Arispe explained, is entirely confidential. Additionally, cafeteria staff do not identify students as free or reduced lunch recipients to their peers or teachers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Arispe said that many families don\u2019t fill out the application because they assume they won\u2019t qualify, or believe the application doesn\u2019t matter because their student doesn\u2019t eat cafeteria food. However, the applications also help the district document the number of economically disadvantaged students, which can influence eligibility for certain state and federal funding, grants and educational programs, the cafeteria director said. Arispe said those applications also help recover federal funding for the district\u2019s food service program, which operates at a deficit each year.<\/p>\n
Free and reduced lunch program applications can be submitted at any time and even if students owe money in lunch fees, they will still be fed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Families may submit applications at any time during the school year, including if their financial circumstances change. As the academic year approaches, Arispe encouraged parents to apply even if they are unsure whether they qualify \u2014 noting that the worst outcome is simply receiving a notice that they are ineligible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s beneficial to the family, it\u2019s beneficial to the children and it\u2019s beneficial to the school,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Graham ISD is encouraging families to apply for the district\u2019s free and reduced-price meal program ahead of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[136560,136559,136557,56424,136562,136558,160,162,161,136561],"class_list":["post-387445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-cafeteria-director","tag-cafeteria-food","tag-galveston-independent-school-district","tag-gisd","tag-graham-independent-school-district","tag-jodi-arispe","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-us-federal-reserve"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}