The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a non-pricing meal service option for schools and school districts in low-income areas. CEP allows the nation’s highest poverty schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.
The CEP resource center provides extensive resources for parents, teachers, and school officials at the local, state and Federal level to better understand CEP and its positive benefits, along with useful tools to help facilitate successful implementation of the provision in your school!
A webinar for state agency and school food authority staff focused on the Final Rule: Child Nutrition Programs Community Eligibility Provision — Increasing Options for Schools.
The CEP slider tool will calculate and display free and paid claiming percentages.
This final rule amends the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) regulations by lowering the minimum identified student percentage (ISP) from 40 percent to 25 percent.
USDA published a final rule in the Federal Register on Sept. 26, 2023, to expand access to the Community Eligibility Provision by lowering the minimum identified student percentage participation threshold from 40 percent to 25 percent.
A webinar for state agencies and school food authority staff focused on the proposed rule Child Nutrition Programs: Community Eligibility Provision – Increasing Options for Schools.
Comparison table for CEP proposed rule: current requirements vs. proposed changes.
This rulemaking proposes to expand access to the Community Eligibility Provision by lowering the minimum identified student percentage participation threshold from 40 percent to 25 percent, which would give states and schools greater flexibility to choose to invest non-federal funds to offer no-cost meals to all enrolled students.