This memorandum is a reminder to state agencies and local educational agencies that the statutory deadline to elect the Community Eligibility Provision for the following school year is June 30. This memorandum also provides a reminder of the annual CEP notification and publication requirements.
This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection. This information collection announces the intent of the Food and Nutrition Service to revise and report on the activities associated with the replacement of multiple Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Electronic Benefit Transfer cards, as well as the monitoring and notices associated with excessive requests for replacement SNAP EBT cards.
In an effort to reduce fraud, waste and abuse, we are issuing this memorandum to clarify SNAP Electronic Benefits Transfer expungement policy. States are strongly encouraged to expunge benefit allotments nine months after issuance, regardless of the household’s SNAP activity, in accordance with regulatory requirements.
This collection is for providing SNAP households advance or concurrent notice of state agency action to store unused SNAP benefits offline due to three or more months of account inactivity and for those households to seek reinstatement of benefits prior to permanent expungement. Additionally, this collection is for providing SNAP households advance or concurrent notice prior to the state agency expunging unused SNAP benefits from the household's Electronic Benefit Transfer account due to nine months of account inactivity.
The purpose of this memorandum is to update prior guidance to reflect changes made to the Community Eligibility Provision due to the Final Rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Community Eligibility Provision – Increasing Options for Schools (FR 65778), effective on Oct. 26, 2023. This final rule amended CEP regulations by lowering the minimum identified student percentage to elect CEP from 40 percent to 25 percent.
This memorandum provides a reminder of the annual Community Eligibility Provision notification and publication requirements, including the changes made by the Final Rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Community Eligibility Provision – Increasing Options for Schools. This memorandum also reminds state agencies that the statutory election deadline for schools to elect CEP for school year 2024-25 is June 30, 2024.
This memorandum provides new guidance and questions and answers to address changes made by the CEP final rule. Additionally, this memorandum provides clarification on guidance related to CEP. The attached Q&As supersede SP 54-2016, Community Eligibility Provision: Guidance and Updated Q&As.
Attached is the third edition of Community Eligibility Provision: Planning and Implementation Guidance. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) meal service option that allows schools and local educational agencies (LEAs) in high poverty areas to offer meals at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications.
This memorandum replaces the WIC Informational Memorandum dated Aug. 10, 2022. In particular, the USDA FNS State Systems Office (SSO) has revised the section titled Threshold for FNS Review of EBT Projects after Statewide EBT. Handbook 901 will be updated to reflect this revised guidance.
This guidance applies to state agencies and local educational agencies administering the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program. This guidance provides information on the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Community Eligibility Provision – Increasing Options for School.