This guidance provides steps state agencies and school administrators can take to improve access to school meal programs through the application, certification, and verification processes so that all eligible children in NSLP and SBP schools have the opportunity to participate in the school meal programs.
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.
On July 16, 2012, FNS issued memorandum SP 38-2012, which allowed Residential Child Care Institutions, with state agency approval, to serve the National School Lunch Program meal pattern in effect for the highest age/grade group served to all residential students.
FNS has developed a new version of the prototype Free and Reduced Price School Meals Application package. This “family friendly” application package has been simplified to include only the information that families need when first applying for free or reduced price meals in the school meals programs.
Recently, we have received several questions about the use of funds from the nonprofit school food service account to cover expenditures related to farm to school activities and school gardens. The questions and answers below address specific scenarios that school food authorities may be dealing with when considering the allowability of such costs.
The Food and Nutrition Service issued the final rule Fluid Milk Substitutions in the School Nutrition Program on Sept. 12, 2008, to implement a provision of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004.
The purpose of this memorandum is to highlight the key provisions of the final rule and emphasize the responsibilities state agencies have in ensuring compliance with these provisions and with contract enforcement and oversight.
This memorandum shares newly developed resources intended to promote reporting efficiency. The attached “Reporting Timeline” and “Reporting Table” were developed to assist with tracking the diverse reports required to be submitted by state agencies to the Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) throughout the fiscal year.
It has come to our attention that there may be some confusion concerning fluid milk, and how it is offered in reimbursable lunches. Under all menu planning approaches, fluid milk is a separate food component/menu item.
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.