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.
FNS has received feedback from some state agencies and regional offices that the post-disaster review requirements in the newly-revised Disaster Food Stamp Program (DFSP) Guidance may place an undue administrative burden on state agencies as they recover from major disasters.
This memorandum seeks to clarify questions raised by state agencies attending the July Disaster Food Stamp Program (DFSP) training in Biloxi, Mississippi concerning the authorities under which the Food and Nutrition Service may authorize operation of the DFSP.
The report draws on data for households participating in the Food Stamp Program under normal rules and thus does not include information about those who received disaster assistance after the Gulf Coast hurricanes in September and October 2005.
The purpose of this memorandum is to provide guidance to WIC state agencies in planning, preparing for and responding to the possibility of a human pandemic.
This is the second in a series of annual reports assessing administrative errors associated with school food authorities’ approval of applications for free and reduced-price school meals. In school year 2005/06, more than 96 percent of students who were approved for meal benefits on the basis of an application were receiving the correct level of meal benefits, based on the information in the application
files.
In 1991 and 1998, FNS conducted national studies of WIC vendors to determine the extent of vendor violation of program rules. After the 1998 study, FNS issued regulations to correct vendor practices. The 2005 study replicates the 1998 study to determine whether the regulations were effective, and to measure the frequency of vendor violations and the degree to which vendors charge accurate prices for WIC transactions.
This policy memorandum outlines the requirements for the revised WIC Advance Planning Document process and provides additional guidance to state agencies that are interested in the transfer of a SAM system.