FY 2014 Administrative Review and Training Grants

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 (PL 108-265) amended Section 22 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to establish a requirement that state agencies conduct additional administrative reviews of selected local educational agencies (LEAs). It also amended Section 7 of the Child Nutrition Act to provide funding for states to be used for administrative reviews and training of LEAs. Both of these requirements are focused on LEAs which have demonstrated a high level of, or a high risk for, administrative error.

To assist state agencies in achieving these requirements, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has up to $4 million available in fiscal year (FY) 2014 to fund Method II Administrative Reviews and Training (ART) Grants for training and oversight. The grant funds will be available only to the 57 state agencies that administer the child nutrition programs, and are for the purpose of identifying, reviewing, monitoring and training LEAs that have demonstrated a high level of, or a high risk for, administrative error. FNS will make the funds available on a competitive basis.

States may apply for a planning grant or an Implementation grant, as described in Section IV, ART Method II Grant Types, in this Request for Applications (RFA), but not both. Accordingly, within approximately three weeks of this RFA’s publication, FNS will conduct a webinar with all state agencies and FNS regional offices to review the RFA and address questions regarding the application process. Notification of the webinar date, time and call-in information will be communicated to state agencies via the FNS regional offices and the FNS Child Nutrition Division’s PartnerWeb.

The FY 2014 ART Method II Grant award process involves two types of awards:

• ART Method II Planning grants for awards up to $75,000, with grant periods of up to one year; and
• ART Method II Implementation grants for awards up to $1,500,000, with grant periods of one to three years.

Awards

Massachusetts

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education applied for an ART Method II implementation grant in 2014 to enhance the Massachusetts School Meal Accountability and Responsibility Training Tools (SMARTTs). The objective is to make all Massachusetts school nutrition personnel qualified within their positions through interactive trainings and delivery of user support to further reduce administrative errors and improve the nutritional quality of school meals statewide. SMARTTs will adapt the Agency’s Making It Count training into a toolkit for use by school nutrition directors and managers as a group teaching resource to assist districts in ensuring development of competent staff and compliance with the proposed professional standards. Regional “Train the Trainer” sessions are proposed to cultivate the skills necessary for school nutrition directors and managers to effectively and efficiently train their staff with the developed toolkit. Additional components include the standardization of point of sale system requirements and technology improvements to allow districts the ability to run claim analysis reports to highlight claim anomalies and trends prior to submission. In addition, state agency reports reflecting results from the new Administrative Review will be created.

Guam

Department of Education

The Guam Department of Education has applied for an ART II implementation grant to make improvements to their child nutrition program operations. Guam has proposed moving from manual processes to a technology driven system. Their proposed solution will provide the state agency the capability to assess and monitor SFAs’ compliance with program requirements using a data driven approach that will address certification, verification, meal counting and claiming, and allow them to establish performance benchmarks in key areas such as financial management and meal planning. The proposed solution also will support and enhance the state agency’s ability to identify, review, oversee and train high risk SFAs in application processing and certification, verification, meal counting, and meal claiming, allowing the state agency to conduct trend analysis and make comparisons among districts.

North Dakota

Department of Public Instruction

The North Dakota Department of Public Instruction has applied for an ART II grant to purchase an automated eligibility processing system that will reduce eligibility determination errors, create efficiencies for school food authorities (SFAs) and the state agency, and allow oversight of and access to SFA determinations for completion of Administrative Reviews. The state agency will also reduce the risk of administrative errors and increase program integrity by implementing a comprehensive administrative review system. The administrative review system will integrate and automate all review processes to ensure administrative reviews are completed accurately and completely and that all required forms and data are collected and maintained.

Pennsylvania

Department of Education

The Pennsylvania Department of Education, Division of Food and Nutrition, has applied for an ART II grant to provide training to reduce administrative errors in certification, verification, and meal counting and claiming and menu pattern compliance. Pennsylvania will identify and provide technical assistance to SFAs that are significantly out of compliance with menu planning requirements. Training will be offered through one-on-one and on-site technical assistance.