The number of students in Snohomish County who receive free and reduced-priced meals through the National School Lunch Program has steadily increased over the past five years in the majority of school districts.
According to the most recent available data, collected in October 2011 by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Child Nutrition Services, the Index School District had the highest percentage of students enrolled in the program while the Northshore School District, which serves students in Snohomish and King Counties, had the lowest percentage enrolled.
Applications to enroll in free or reduced-price meal programs are sent home to families at the beginning of every school year. Those with income levels meeting guidelines set annually by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are eligible to apply.
School Districts that participate in the National Lunch Program report the number of students who received free or reduced-price meals to the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Child Nutrition Services by Dec. 31. Those numbers are collected by districts every year in late October and are published by the state at the beginning of the following year.
Districts ranked by 2011 % of students receiving lunch subsidy
| School district | 2007 enrollment | 2007 lunch subsidy | 2008 lunch subsidy | 2009 lunch subsidy | 2010 lunch subsidy | 2011 enrollment | 2011 lunch subsidy | Enrollment change since 2007 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Index | 25 | 68.0% | 51.5% | 57.9% | 56.4% | 40 | 65.0% | 60.0% |
| 2. Darrington | 629 | 42.9% | 45.3% | 54.7% | 56.0% | 475 | 63.8% | -24.5% |
| 3. Marysville | 11,399 | 32.8% | 35.3% | 41.7% | 42.0% | 11,352 | 50.5% | -0.4% |
| 4. Mukilteo | 14,310 | 38.4% | 43.2% | 46.1% | 47.8% | 14,685 | 49.8% | 2.6% |
| 5. Sultan | 2,153 | 33.4% | 37.2% | 40.9% | 41.1% | 1,919 | 47.0% | -10.9% |
| 6. Granite Falls | 2,418 | 27.2% | 33.7% | 36.7% | 41.6% | 2,220 | 43.3% | -8.2% |
| 7. Everett | 19,504 | 33.7% | 33.6% | 38.4% | 38.6% | 19,024 | 39.6% | -2.5% |
| 8. Edmonds | 20,416 | 29.4% | 30.4% | 26.6% | 33.6% | 19,056 | 36.6% | -6.7% |
| 9. Lakewood | 2,728 | 27.7% | 28.2% | 32.1% | 34.5% | 2,699 | 35.2% | -1.1% |
| 10. Monroe | 5,847 | 18.9% | 22.2% | 23.5% | 26.8% | 5,633 | 34.7% | -3.7% |
| 11. Arlington | 5,255 | 19.8% | 23.7% | 24.6% | 25.6% | 5,582 | 33.9% | 6.2% |
| 12. Lake Stevens | 7,642 | 21.6% | 25.8% | 30.2% | 32.1% | 8,200 | 33.2% | 7.3% |
| 13. Stanwood-Camano | 5,540 | 20.6% | 21.7% | 24.1% | 25.9% | 4,790 | 26.9% | -13.5% |
| 14. Snohomish | 9,390 | 13.3% | 14.7% | 18.5% | 20.3% | 10,112 | 22.0% | 7.7% |
| 15. Northshore | 19,647 | 11.8% | 12.8% | 14.8% | 16.0% | 19,592 | 16.8% | -0.3% |
| All districts | 73,582 | 32.9% | 34.9% | 37.2% | 39.7% | 71,470 | 42.9% | -2.9% |
Snohomish County school districts
Click to see enrollment and school-lunch data.
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