CARY, N.C. — In the new state budget, students who receive reduced priced lunches can now receive free lunch. Even though the school year has started, parents can still sign their kids up for free or reduced price lunch.

Marianne Weant works from home and has six kids, from pre-school up to sixth grade. She’s an active parent when it comes to what is going on inside her kids’ schools.

“Being a parent is really important to what I value for my children, and I value equity and access to school meals,” Weant said.

Weant is the program manager for North Carolina Alliance for Health. They focus on advancing what they consider being equitable policies, and one of their many focuses is about making school lunches free for all.

“Every parent knows hungry kids can’t learn. And 81% of North Carolina voters support school meals for all. There’s a real shared consensus that we have an issue that we need to address. And the reduced price meal copay, especially, is an important step for that,” Weant said.

In January, Weant’s husband lost his job and her kids had to go on reduced priced lunch for two months. She said it was a relief for her family because it was one less thing to worry about. It’s a worry no one in their position will have this state budget cycle, with spending tabs for all reduced-price lunches being wiped out.

“It’s going to cost about $3 million a year to the state to cover that for all of the children that are eligible for lunch. But it’s going to make a big difference for kids that are food insecure, making sure their families are able to feed them the best food they can,” Weant said.

Many are applauding this move by the state as a big step in the right direction.

Advocates like Weant believe the new state budget could have gone further and made it free lunch for all. But with reduced price lunches now free, Weant reminds folks it’s not to late to apply for this benefit.

“The cost of this is about $120 per student, per year. It’s a really low-cost way to make sure schools are doing their best and kids are doing their best,” Weant said.

The program application process is anonymous.