Study of the Administrative Review and Training Grants in the USDA National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program

This report examines in-depth the accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned from 20 states that received and completed Administrative Review and Training (ART) Grants by the end of FY 2017. ART Grants provide funding for diverse activities aimed at reducing administrative error, including training for administrative personnel and improving state-level technologies in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program. Data was collected through interviews with stakeholders in the interventions

Key findings include:

• ART Grant projects helped grantees improve their administrative review processes, rendering them more efficient and more likely to help reduce administrative error.
• ART Grant projects helped some states reduce administrative costs and burden by reducing paperwork and the time and effort required to conduct administrative reviews.
• Almost 10 percent of all money awarded was returned, as several states returned significant portions of their ART grant funds primarily due to changes in implementation plans that yielded cost savings.