COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — All students in the Council Bluffs school district will receive free meals beginning this fall.

Lisa Stewart, director of nutrition services for the district, told the board of education last week that the entire school district now qualifies for Community Eligibility Provision, a federal program that allows students to eat free breakfast and lunch.

The Daily Nonpareil reports families in elementary schools could save up to $700 a year, with families of high school students saving up to $900 a year.

Stewart said the students qualified because of a state decision in March 2018 to accept certain classifications of Medicaid enrollees as automatically qualified for free lunches. She says the change was not caused by a sudden decline in the area’s economy.