Learn And Play

Are you ready for your child’s first day of school?

Public school starts Aug. 16 in Broward and Aug. 17 in Miami-Dade.

Here’s what parents and students should know:

Will breakfast and lunch be free?

Breakfast is free for all students in Miami-Dade and Broward public schools. Miami-Dade’s public school district is also giving free lunch to all students again this year.

The district said it will rely on funding this year from a federal program called Community Eligibility Provision, which reimburses schools and school districts for meals in low-income areas. Last year, South Florida school districts relied on a now-expired USDA waiver to provide free lunch to students.

In Broward, some students, but not all, will get free lunch.

Broward’s public school district said it can provide free lunch to students at 167 schools through the funding it will get from the Community Eligibility Provision program. Broward Schools said

Before Minnesota banned school lunch shaming, children who owed money to the cafeteria might be handed a cold cheese sandwich for lunch. Or no lunch at all.

They might come home from school wearing a humiliating sticker or hand stamp to let their parents — and every other kid on the school bus — know they were in debt.

They might be banned from field trips or fun class activities until someone paid up.

But Minnesota did ban lunch shaming. State lawmakers, who don’t agree on much, came together across party lines on that one last year. Because a child’s biggest worry at lunchtime should be more along the lines of whether today is Pizza Day or not.

The law changed. Many school district policies did not.

As students head back to school, Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid — which has battled for years to identify and eradicate lunch shaming — went