Tiffin City Schools students will eat breakfast and lunch at no cost this year

Every Tiffin City Schools student in grades K-12 will eat breakfast and lunch at no cost during the 2026-27 school year. There is no application to fill out and nothing families need to do. Free meals start on the first day of school, Tuesday, Aug. 25.

The district qualified for the Community Eligibility Provision, a federal option under the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. Districts where enough students are already certified for free meals through programs like SNAP, Medicaid and Ohio Works First can serve breakfast and lunch to every student at no charge, without collecting household meal applications. Tiffin City Schools met that threshold for 2026-27.

“No student should have to worry about whether they can afford breakfast or lunch at school,” Food Service Director Colleen Neely said. “Providing meals at no cost to our households allows us to focus on making sure every student has the nutrition they need to learn, grow, and succeed.”

Superintendent Greg Williamson said the change helps in the classroom and at the kitchen table. A student who ate breakfast is ready to learn, and a family that no longer budgets for school meals keeps that money at home.

“This puts students first, and it is a real savings for our families,” Williamson said. “I want to thank Colleen and our food service team for helping to get us here.”

A few details for families:

• Free meals apply to every enrolled K-12 student at Washington, Krout, Noble, Tiffin Middle School and Columbian High School. Breakfast is served before school and lunch is served daily. Menus are posted at myschoolmenus.com and on the district website.
• The free meal is one complete breakfast and one complete lunch per student per school day. Extras, second lunches, snacks, milk for students who pack and incomplete meals are still purchased through the student’s meal account, and students cannot buy those items with a negative balance.
• Meal accounts are now managed through PaySchools Central, which replaced Titan/LINQ. Previous balances carried over. Families can register at payschoolscentral.com or through the PaySchools Central app, and cash and checks are still accepted. PaySchools customer service can be reached at 877-393-6628.
• Families will not receive a free and reduced-price meal application this year. Instead, the district is asking one person per household to complete the short CEP Household Information Form, available on the PaySchools dashboard under School District. It takes a few minutes, is kept confidential and has no effect on whether a student eats free. Completing it helps the district qualify for other state and federal funding that supports students.

Questions about school meals can be directed to the Tiffin City Schools Food Services Department at 419-447-5768.

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