The Child Nutrition Program Operations Study II (CN-OPS II) is a multiyear study designed to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) with information on current state agency (SA) and school food authority (SFA) policies, practices, and needs related to school nutrition service operations, financial management, meal counting, training and professional standards, food service equipment, and technology. Results are used to inform child nutrition program management and policy development.
The first year of CN-OPS II relies on data collected from May-October 2016 through surveys of all state child nutrition (CN) directors and a nationally representative stratified sample of SFA directors from public school districts with at least one school participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) or School Breakfast Program (SBP). While survey questions were primarily asked about school year (SY) 2015-16, retrospective data were collected for SY 2013-14 and/or SY 2014-15 on topics such as participation, meal prices, and SFA finances to facilitate comparisons over time.