Notice

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins writes to remind schools, sponsors, and institutions participating in any USDA Child Nutrition Program, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, and the Seamless Summer Option, of the many ways they can purchase local foods to serve in program meals.

The purpose of this memorandum is to remind schools, sponsors, and institutions participating in any U.S. Department of Agriculture Child Nutrition Program, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, Special Milk Program for Children, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, and the Seamless Summer Option, of the various resources available to help child nutrition program operators procure local foods. 

For FY27, we are continuing to offer state agencies a simplified option as changes from OBBB continue to be implemented. State agencies may not use a new SUA methodology to calculate their SUA values without approval from FNA and are required to update their SUA values each year. 

Given the importance of child support in uplifting families, we are rescinding the 2024 memo and reissuing the May 1, 2019 memo. We strongly encourages state agencies to not only review the 2019 memo, but also to evaluate and implement available opportunities to promote parental responsibility for the economic, social well-being, health, and stability of their children.

The purpose of this memorandum is to provide funding allocation amounts for all state agencies for fiscal year (FY) 2027, information on funding requirements and deadlines, and reminders of important program requirements.

This memorandum provides guidance on the school year 2026-2027 Buy American accommodation process outlined in 7 CFR 210.21(d)(8) and 7 CFR 220.16(d)(8). 

These questions and answers provide additional information on implementing Section 10102 of the OBBB, which changes exceptions from the time limit, restricts waivers of the time limit, and allows for good faith exemptions for Alaska and Hawaii. 

We are committed to supporting state agency efforts to combat fraud, waste, and abuse by further clarifying statutory, regulatory and administrative requirements through this guidance for the SFSP rural non-congregate meal service.

This memorandum provides information and guidance related to implementing the updated fluid milk options available to operators of the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Food Program, and the Special Milk Program for Children.

This memorandum provides updates on merit personnel requirements for SNAP following OPM guidance on staffing options.