CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Thousands of Horry County School children could receive free breakfast and lunch in the 2017-2018 school year.

A program called The Community Eligibility Program was presented at Monday night’s Horry County School Board meeting. It’s a meal service option for schools in low-income areas paid for with federal grant money.

School Board Chairman Joe DeFeo said he’s in favor of bringing the program into the district so parents wouldn’t have to pay for their children’s lunch.

“If we can bring more dollars into this school and save some parents some money, I’m all for it,” said DeFeo.

Director of Food Services for Horry County Schools, Laura Farmer, said 11 different schools would qualify for the grant: Daisy Elementary School, Loris Elementary School, Homewood Elementary School, Horry County Education Center, Pee Dee Elementary School, Palmetto Bays Elementary School, Whittemore Park Middle School, Myrtle Beach Primary School, Myrtle Beach Elementary School, Myrtle Beach Intermediate School, and South Conway Elementary School.

“Most all these schools we are serving free breakfast in the schools anyway, so we’re halfway there with some of these schools,” said Farmer. “We’ve tried to do it several ways to try to get the best interest of all the students in all the schools and this is what we’ve come up with.”

The program was available nationwide in 2014 so News13 asked DeFeo why it hasn’t been brought to Horry County.

“It was originally brought up and I was in favor of it,” said DeFeo. “A former Superintendent wanted to give it a few years to see if there were any strings attached.”

DeFeo said current Superintendent, Dr. Rick Maxey, and others have spoken with districts that already use the program, including Charleston and Greenville.

“They’re saying there’s no backdoor surprises; this is basically fully funded,” added DeFeo. “It is optional, of course, anybody can go in and buy extra food or whatever they want.”

The program was presented to the school board on Monday night but will be up for discussion and a vote on March 20.