Starting this fall, all Chicago Public Schools students will be able to get free breakfast and lunch at school.



The high number of students living at the poverty level in the district qualified CPS to meet the required threshold for full reimbursement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to CPS officials.



In the past school year, lunch at a typical elementary school for students who didn't qualify for assistance cost an average of about $2.45. High schools charges slightly more.



The district expects to serve 72 million meals to students in the coming year, two million more than during the last school year.



"If a student eats that day, the district gets reimbursed," said Leslie Fowler, executive director of CPS' nutritional support services. "But if they don't eat, then CPS doesn't get reimbursed and there's no cost associated with that meal. We can't predict what they do or don't do, but we hope we can encourage them to participate."



In the past, the school district's free and reduced lunch program for financially eligible students was fraught with fraud. Several CPS school officials, including principals and assistant principals, were accused by the district's Inspector General of providing false income information on applications for the free lunch program.



A 2012 Tribune analysis highlighted flaws in the federal free lunch program, in which school districts have been rewarded for enrolling as many students as possible. The free lunch numbers are then used to help determine poverty levels that can contribute billions of dollars to districts.



On Thursday, Fowler said making lunch free for all would put an end to fraudulent applications submitted for the free and reduced lunch program.



"Absolutely, because we're not relying on those documents anymore," she said.



nahmed@tribune.com

Twitter @nahmedullah



