To ensure program integrity, school districts must sample household applications certified for free or reduced-price meals, contact the households, and verify eligibility. This process (known as household verification) can be burdensome for both school officials and households. Direct verification uses information from certain other means-tested programs to verify eligibility without contacting applicants. Potential benefits include: less burden for households, less work for school officials, and fewer students with school meal benefits terminated because of nonresponse to verification requests.
This supersedes the Jan. 7, 2010, version of the policy memo, Exclusion of Military Combat Pay. In addition to combat pay and other income received by deployed service members, this memorandum addresses Deployment Extension Incentive Pay.
As of Jan. 18, 2010, the operation of the Child Nutrition Label Program shifts from the USDA Food and Nutrition Administration to the Agricultural Marketing Service Processed Products Branch.
We have obtained the latest school enrollment and attendance figures from the Department of Education. For your information, the updated national average daily attendance factor for use during Coordinated Review Effort for School Year 2010-2011 is 94.4 percent.
The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service has published a list of manufacturers that have met FNA's quality control program requirements for the CN labeling program.
This memorandum provides questions and answers relating to policy memorandum SP38 CACFP08 SFSP07-2009, Extending Categorical Eligibility to Additional Children in a Household, dated Aug. 27, 2009.
This is a reminder of the statutory and regulatory requirements for categorical eligibility for the Child Nutrition Programs based on receipt of benefits from each state’s Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program. The Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act restricts categorical eligibility to those TANF programs with standards that are comparable to or more restrictive than those in effect on June 1, 1995.
This memorandum clarifies the requirements and options for school food authorities acting as a collective unit in performing activities relating to donated foods. It also clarifies the requirements for the distributing agency with respect to such SFAs.
Program errors and the risk of erroneous payments in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) continue to be a concern. Slightly more than one in five students were certified inaccurately or erroneously denied benefits in school year (SY) 2005-06. New data estimates the gross cost of school meals erroneous payments due to certification error at about $935 million while other operational errors represent about $860 million.
Attached to this memorandum is a sample letter addressed to all state directors providing guidance in situations where a state is consolidating or centralizing its IT services.