BATON ROUGE  — The East Baton Rouge Parish school system will be providing free lunch to its almost 42,000 students, including thousands who in the past had to pay for their meals.

The Advocate reports the change, announced Monday, takes effect Aug. 11, the start of the 2014-15 school year.

The school district plans to take advantage of a new federal initiative that allows public schools in high-poverty areas such as Baton Rouge to provide free meals to all students without families having to fill out individual forms.

Nadine Mann, director of the child nutrition program, says making lunch free for all students will save families between $122 and $744 a year just for lunch.

Lunch is currently $2.25 per meal in Baton Rouge elementary schools, and $2.50 a meal for middle and high schools.

Thousands more, between 5 and 10 percent of all students in Baton Rouge depending on the year, pay the reduced price of 40 cents per meal. These families have incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the federal poverty line. For a family of four, that ranges from $30,005 to $44,123 in annual income.

Mann said the change will free her staff from a lot of administrative hassle, as well as having to become bill collectors to get families to pay. She also likes that all children will be treated equally.

“What this means now is there will be no stigma attached to a meal,” Mann said.

A school or a school system qualifies for community eligibility if at least 40 percent of its students participate in the food stamp program, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or in other federal income-based programs. Children participating in Head Start, living in foster care, or who are homeless or migrant can also count toward that 40 percent threshold.(MGNonline)