State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson has announced that more than 800,000 California students are now eligible to receive free and reduced priced meals from the state school lunch program through a state-level Direct Certification process. Direct Certification is a federally-mandated process that certifies school age recipients of CalFresh and CalWorks benefits as eligible for the free school lunch program. This new process eliminates the need for families to fill out applications, reduces the administrative tasks of verifying and processing those applications, and identifies eligible students in a more expedient timeline. Additional resources are also available to help support eligibility for free school meals. Click here for additional information regarding the Direct Certification Process.