Percentage grows to nearly half of La Crosse students eligible for free or reduced meals

Nearly half the students in the La Crosse School District qualify for free or reduced meals.

Last year, 43 percent of students qualified for one or the other. This year, that percentage jumped to 47.

In fact, a majority of schools in the district show increases. Some had large jumps, like Hamilton Elementary, which increased from 64 to 76 percent.

“We just feel so strongly that a child that is not well nourished is not going to learn in the classroom,” Lyn Halvorson, supervisor of nutrition services in the district, said, adding food insecurities likely don’t end when the child leaves school, so they try to help the best they can.

Students in families at 180 percent of the poverty level qualify for free meals, while 130 percent get reduced meals, according to Halvorson.

Qualification is based on a family’s income level and the number of people in the family.

Halvorson says every school has some sort of food assistance program