This question and answer memorandum is designed to provide an overview of policies related to unpaid meal charges and to address common questions we have received from state agencies, school food authorities, and local program operators.
The purpose of this memorandum is to strongly encourage local educational agencies to accept eligibility determinations from a transferring student’s former LEA to minimize disruptions in meal benefits for low-income students and avoid student debt resulting from unpaid meal charges.
There has been confusion about how unpaid meal charges must be handled when all collection efforts have been exhausted. To help address these situations, this memorandum clarifies the processes of designating delinquent debt that has been determined to be uncollectable as bad debt and obtaining assistance to offset bad debt losses.
The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act requires school food authorities to report their paid reimbursable lunch prices to the state agency for publication by FNS.
The purpose of this memorandum is to remind entities that the third ARRA reporting period begins on April 1, 2010, to update and summarize certain guidance that entities must use when reporting TEFAP ARRA data.
FNS held a webinar to train regional personnel to conduct reviews of data submitted by TEFAP Reporting Entities pursuant to Section 1512 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
We have been asked to clarify what verification results to include in box 11, Did Not Respond, on the School Food Authority Verification Summary Report, FNS-742.
Several data sources, including information on free and reduced price eligibility status changed as a result of verification, indicate that there is a significant problem with inaccurate certifications for free/reduced price meal benefits in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Therefore, it is imperative that both state agencies and FNS make every effort to validate the accuracy of eligibility determinations.