Title I is a federal program “to ensure economically disadvantaged children receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, by helping to close academic achievement gaps.” It began with the passage of the  Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and has been reauthorized by Congress 8 times since. Most recently, in 2015 under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Title I funding is directed at low-income students who are disadvantaged in public schools because they may not have had all the educational benefits enjoyed by children from higher-income families. 

The federal government divides low-income children into two groups: free lunch and reduced lunch. If a family is living at 130% above the federal poverty line or below, the children in that family are eligible for lunch at no cost. If a family is living at up to 185% above the poverty line, the children in that family are eligible for lunch at a reduced cost.

In 2010, an eligibility option through the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act called Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) was added. Under CEP, if 40% of a district’s students are “directly identified” as eligible for free lunch (a stricter way of certifying a family’s poverty status), all students in that district, regardless of family’s income, are eligible for free lunch.

Under the CEP, all students at Godby can eat breakfast and lunch for free.