Columbus Schools Adopts Universal Free Lunch

Columbus (OH) City Schools will begin serving universal free lunch this fall to its 50,000 students after already serving universal free breakfast for several years, reports the Columbus Dispatch. The district's $26 million school meal program had lost $1.75 million last year, including about $300,000 in uncollected money owed by cash lunch students. Administrators expect the program to break even this year thanks not only to the end of unpaid cash accounts but also the elimination of administrative costs associated with managing and validating separate free reduced-price and cash accounts.