Information Collection: National Study of State Adoption and Use of Pandemic-Electronic Benefit Transfer During Covid-19

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 provides the Secretary of Agriculture authority to approve state agency plans for temporary emergency benefits under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008. Children who would receive free or reduced-price meals under the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, if not for the school closures, are eligible under this provision.

This collection seeks to gather information on operational issues and challenges encountered by Child Nutrition (CN) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) state agencies while implementing the PEBT program. The study will collect information on state systems, including student information and direct certification systems and the records contained in those systems, school meal application data, information on the efficacy of the PEBT program, costs of operating the program, and organizational and operational challenges. This study will also seek to collect administrative data on per recipient benefits at the school district level.