DMPS Offers Free Meals to Students for 2024-25 School Year

Des Moines Public Schools is excited to share that we will offer a free breakfast and lunch to every DMPS student in every school building during the 2024-25 school year. This is the third consecutive year the food and nutrition department staff will be able to provide free, nutritious meals every school day.

DMPS offers free meals through expanded participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP allows schools and districts that predominantly serve low-income children to offer free school meals through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs.

Student participation is automatic, families are not required to fill out any forms or applications.

“I am delighted that we can continue to provide free meals to students,” said Food and Nutrition Director Amanda Miller. “The best part is there are no hoops for families to jump through and no lunch debt for them to accrue. Every child gets in the same line and is handed the same nutritious meal regardless of their family income.”

Free school meals have been a work in progress over the last decade and Miller’s goal for many years. DMPS began offering free meals to students at 13 schools during the 2013-14 school year and added an additional 25 schools the following year. Finally, during the 2022-23 school year, DMPS was able to begin offering students in all 60 schools access to a free breakfast and lunch every school day regardless of family income. It’s a program Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts says will continue for the foreseeable future.

“Nutritious meals are a foundational part of student academic and behavioral supports,” said Superintendent Dr. Ian Roberts. “The ability of our students to focus and achieve excellence should not be compromised by hunger.”

In addition to free meals during the school year, DMPS has also worked with the USDA to offer free summer meals to all Des Moines children for more than 40 years.