Special to the Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove ISD board of trustees approved changes to the school lunch program at Copperas Cove High School and Central Texas Innovation Academy., during its meeting on Tuesday evening.
The changes will take effect in January when classes resume after Christmas and New Year’s break.
The campuses were removed from the federal Community Eligibility Provision program, which provides free breakfast and lunch to every student at eligible campuses.
Therefore, CCISD is required to resume paid meals at these two campuses. The district's free breakfast and lunch program will continue at the other campuses.
This change was brought on by changes in federal law which changed the qualification requirements for the SNAP/Food Stamp program.
“We understand that this is a significant change which will impact families,” said Dr. Brent Hawkins, CCISD superintendent. “We wanted to make sure to provide as much notice as possible to parents, so they could plan for the change.”
Breakfasts will cost $2.50 each and lunches $3 each at CCHS and CTIA, for students who pay full price for their meals. These are the set rates as approved in the 2024-25 school year.
Not all students will be required to pay for their meals at that time, however.
Families who are in the SNAP/Food Stamp or Medicaid programs will continue to receive free meals with no further action.
Eligible families will be notified via email of their eligibility status.
All other students will be asked to complete the online Free & Reduced-Price Meal Application on the CCISD Child Nutrition webpage.
Once applications are processed, families will be notified of their eligibility status by email. Families which are eligible for reduced-price meals will not have to pay for meals, as the result of funding approved for the current school year during the 89th Texas Legislature.
“These applications don’t only impact the funding for meal service programs, but they also directly impact the general funding and accountability formulas for our district,” Dr. Hawkins said. “We will continue to work with every family, as we have always done, to ensure their student has everything they need to be successful. While the loss of the CEP program at these two campuses is disheartening, it doesn’t change the work our team will put into making every sure every student is successful.”
The application for free and reduced-price meals will be available in the coming days on the CCISD Child Nutrition webpage.
A new application can be submitted at any time during the school year if there is a change in income or household size.
Parents who have questions are encouraged to call the CCISD Child Nutrition department at 254-547-1227.
Trustees likewise approved a calendar measure after a citywide water outage interrupted the first three days of school, affording the use of banked instructional minutes to offset a two-day closure in August, required due to the water outage.
This action is instead of using Bad Weather Make-Up Days on Feb. 15th and May 10th.
The State of Texas requires 75,600 minutes of instruction. With this approval, seven campuses have 860 or fewer banked minutes remaining to account for any additional closures. Among those is Clements/Parsons Elementary School, which was also required to close approximately two hours into the school day Oct. 13th, due to a power outage which left the campus without air conditioning.
Also on Tuesday, Copperas Cove ISD trustees heard a report on the district’s enrollment increase and the trends to expect moving forward.
Renowned school demographer Bob Templeton briefed the board on the district’s enrollment projections and expected trends.
In his presentation, Templeton showed trustees that despite a projected 200-student enrollment decrease for the 2026-27 school year, CCISD’s enrollment is about 600 students higher than the peak enrollment in the 2025-26 school year, as of Oct. 21st. That is an increase of almost 10%.
“Our trustees and I are aware of the national trends impacting school enrollment across the country, but it’s important that we understand what this means for Bulldawg Nation, specifically. To see that we are one of, if not the only, school district in Region 12 with an increase in enrollment shows the level of trust that parents have in the Bulldawg Way and why The Cove Choice is so valuable,” said Dr. Hawkins.
Templeton’s data showed trustees that there has been a slight increase in the number of children age 0-4 in the community since 2020, and that it’s projected to continue through 2031. Trustees also saw Cove’s Housing Affordability Index, with Templeton explaining that the affordable housing available in CCISD’s boundaries is a reason people are continuing to move into the district’s boundaries.
Additionally, Templeton showed that transfers into Copperas Cove ISD have increased from a high of 225 last year to 505 in 2026-27. While CCISD saw 599 students in its boundaries transfer out to other schools last year, he informed the board that this year’s numbers won’t be available until the spring, but he expects it to be notably fewer than in previous years.
The board is next scheduled to hold a Special Called Meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 2.
The board will also hold a Special Called/Workshop Meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 16, with its Regular Meeting to follow that evening at 6 p.m.
All meetings will take place in the Board Room, located at the District Service & Training Center on South Main Street.
Agendas for each Board of Trustees meeting are posted outside the CCISD Service & Training Center three business days prior to each meeting. Once posted, they can be viewed online at www.CCISD.com/SchoolBoard.
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