Depending on your family income and size, your student may qualify for free or reduced-price meals. 

Preferred method:
online application

Or:

1. Please print the application and information | aplicación y información* | a informação
2. Fill it out completely then submit application one of these ways:
   • Scan and mail it to F-RMealapp@lwsd.org, or
   • Return it to your child’s school office, or
   • Drop it off at the Resource Center, 16250 NE 74th St., Redmond, WA, or
   • Mail it to: Business Services, PO Box 97039, Redmond, WA 98052

*For applications in other languages, please go to the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website.

Additional benefits for families eligible for free or reduced-price meals:

Families that are eligible for free and reduced meals may also qualify to have fees for ASB cards, sports participation and other extracurricular activities waived by providing your consent to share eligibility information on the application. If you have already completed an application or are directly certified, please complete the Consent to Share Eligibility form and email it to F-RMealapp@lwsd.org.

Note: Families that qualify for Basic Food/SNAP (formerly known as food stamps), TANF, FDPIR, Foster Care, Homeless, or Migrant through DSHS are automatically enrolled in the free lunch program as “Directly Certified.”  Families that are Directly Certified do not need to complete a Free & Reduced meal application to be eligible for Free & Reduced meals. However, if you are Directly Certified, you must still “consent to share” your eligibility status in order to have fees waived for extracurricular activities including ASB fees/cards and sports participation fees. To do this, please complete the Consent to Share Eligibility form and email it to F-RMealapp@lwsd.org.

LWSD’s Nutrition Services Department takes pride in providing nutritious meals to students to support learning each school day. It is the responsibility of parents or guardians to prepay for school meals, provide a meal from home, or complete an annual application establishing eligibility for free or reduced meal benefits.

Under no circumstance do we want a child to go without a meal during the school day. Students will be allowed to debit their school meal account for the purchase of a complete breakfast or lunch when their account shows insufficient funds or when the student does not have sufficient funds in the form of cash or a check. The purchase of a la carte items including second entrees, milk or juice and snacks are strictly prohibited when an account is negative or will become negative due to the charge.

Adults are not allowed to charge a meal or purchase any a la carte items if they have a negative balance on their account or will become negative due to the charge.

Nutrition Services will make every effort to communicate with families the status of their student’s low and negative meal account balances through the following efforts:

Accounts with low balances of $10 or less

• Families will receive an automated email message once per week regarding their child’s meal account balance.  
• Families who utilize MySchoolBucks to manage their child’s account can set alerts that will notify you when an account balance reaches a certain point. This is managed strictly by the parent.

Accounts with negative balances

• Families will receive an automated email, text or phone call from ParentSquare once per week (Fridays) regarding their child’s meal account balance. Notifications will continue until account balance is paid off.  
• If the child’s account balance continues to remain negative after these attempts, Nutrition Services will contact the school designee who will connect with the families to problem solve ways to resolve the negative balance issue.
• Unresolved negative balances at the end of the year will be submitted to the Accounting office for collection.

We strongly encourage families to complete the school meal benefit application annually to determine if they qualify for free or reduced meal benefits. The school meal benefitapplication may be completed throughout the school year if a family’s income changes.  Applications are available online (preferred method) through Myschoolapps, or by manually filling out an application found on the district website and emailing to F-RMealapp@lwsd.org. 

Families are encouraged to enroll in the online prepayment service MySchoolBucks for meal account payments and account tracking. There is a convenience fee for this payment service; however, there is no fee associated with account balance inquires through MySchoolBucks.

In addition to MySchoolBucks.com, overdue balances can be paid by check made payable to LWSD with your student's name, school and "Lunch" written on the check memo line. This can be taken to your school office, cashier or mailed to the Nutrition Services office at LWSD Nutrition Services, 15130 NE 95th St., Redmond WA 98052.

Families should contact Nutrition Services for the following:

• If you do not want your child to purchase a meal once their account is negative or if you want to restrict the purchase of a la carte foods, an alert can be placed on their student’s account
• If you need assistance with payment options to address school meal charges
• Questions regarding negative school meal balances

Nutrition Services
Phone:425-936-1393
Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Updated: 11/2022