Every student in the Hawthorne School District will be eligible for free breakfast and lunch when the 2026-27 school year begins Wednesday, Aug. 19, continuing the district's participation in the federal Community Eligibility Provision.
Under CEP, participating schools provide breakfast and lunch at no charge to every student without requiring families to submit household meal applications. Hawthorne already operated under CEP during the 2025-26 school year, when the district notified families that all students could receive meals free of charge.
The program also works alongside California's Universal Meals law, which requires public schools to provide free breakfast and lunch to students regardless of their household income. CEP allows participating schools to provide those meals without collecting the traditional federal meal applications used to determine individual eligibility.
What CEP means for Hawthorne families
For families, the biggest change is the lack of paperwork. Parents do not need to complete a meal application or provide income documentation to receive free school meals.
CEP schools instead use the share of students who are directly certified through qualifying programs and categories to determine their federal reimbursement. Those students can include children identified through programs such as CalFresh and CalWORKs.
Schools and groups of schools with an Identified Student Percentage of at least 62.5% can receive the federal free reimbursement rate for every meal served under CEP.
That figure should not be confused with the percentage of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals based on household income.
Which students are covered?
Free breakfast and lunch are available across the Hawthorne School District's participating schools and educational sites, including:
Elementary schools
- Eucalyptus Elementary
- Jefferson Elementary
- Kornblum Elementary
- Ramona Elementary
- Washington Elementary
- York Elementary
- Zela Davis Elementary
Middle schools
- Bud Carson Middle School
- Hawthorne Middle School
- Prairie Vista Middle School
The district also operates Hawthorne Math and Science Academy, Hawthorne School District Learning Center and South Bay Universal Development Center.
Hawthorne School District serves roughly 6,700 students, according to California Department of Education enrollment data.
Why families don't need to apply
California's Universal Meals Program already guarantees free breakfast and lunch to students at public schools. The state program took effect in the 2022-23 school year.
CEP addresses a different part of the process. Rather than determining each student's meal eligibility through individual applications, participating schools use federal eligibility data to establish their reimbursement rate and then provide meals to everyone at no charge.
Families may still be asked to provide income information for other school or state programs, such as determining eligibility for certain forms of school funding. That information is separate from applying for free school meals.
What families need to know
School meals begin Wednesday, Aug. 19, the first day of the 2026-27 school year.
No meal application is required to receive breakfast or lunch at school.
Families with questions about Hawthorne School District's meal program can contact Nutrition Services at 14120 S. Hawthorne Blvd., Hawthorne, CA 90250, or call 310-676-2276.
