Provisional Programs
Provisional programs offer an opportunity for districts to reduce paperwork in their efforts to provide a school meal program for their students and possibly increase revenue through greater participation. These programs come from two legislative actions.
The first program is the Community Eligibility Option (CEP) that is based on a policy requirement of Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. The intent of the CEP option is to provide an alternative to household applications and to improve access to free school meals for high-poverty schools.
Provisional Programs
Provisional programs offer an opportunity for districts to reduce paperwork in their efforts to provide a school meal program for their students and possibly increase revenue through greater participation. These programs come from two legislative actions.
The first program is the Community Eligibility Option (CEP) that is based on a policy requirement of Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010. The intent of the CEP option is to provide an alternative to household applications and to improve access to free school meals for high-poverty schools.
Community Eligibility Provision
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows schools with high numbers of low-income children to serve free breakfast and lunch to all students without collecting school meal applications each year. This option increases participation by children in the school meal programs and usually increases their federal revenues, while the school district reduces labor costs by not having to collect/process applications every school year. A formula based on direct certification data is the basis for reimbursements instead of the paper applications.
Community Eligibility Provision
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows schools with high numbers of low-income children to serve free breakfast and lunch to all students without collecting school meal applications each year. This option increases participation by children in the school meal programs and usually increases their federal revenues, while the school district reduces labor costs by not having to collect/process applications every school year. A formula based on direct certification data is the basis for reimbursements instead of the paper applications.
Provision 1
This Provision reduces application burden by allowing free eligibility to be certified for a two-year period. In schools where at least 80% of the children enrolled are eligible for free or reduced price meals, annual notification of program availability and certification of children eligible for free meals may be reduced to once every two consecutive school years. All other households must be provided with a meal application and are permitted to apply for meal benefits each school year. There is no requirement to serve meals at no charge to all students. Schools must continue to record daily meal counts of the number of meals served to children by type as the basis for calculating reimbursement claims.
Provision 2
Provision 2 requires that the school serve meals to participating children at no charge but reduces application burden from annual application collection to once every four years. Provision 2 also simplifies meal counting and claiming procedures by allowing a school to receive meal reimbursement based on claiming percentages. During the first year, known as the base year, there is no change in traditional procedures and administrative burden. During years two, three, and four of the cycle, the school makes no new eligibility determinations and continues to serve all children meals at no charge. The school takes count of only the total number of reimbursable meals served each day. Reimbursement during these years is determined by applying the percentages of free, reduced price and paid meals served during the base year to the total meal count for the claiming period in subsequent years. Federal reimbursement is based on these percentages, and the meals are reimbursed at the free, reduced price and paid rates. A district can opt to do breakfast and/or lunch and may choose whether to participate on a district-wide basis or only in specific schools.
Generally schools with high percentages of low-income students (75% or more) utilize this option. Provision 2 schools pay the difference between the cost of serving meals at no charge to all students and the federal reimbursement for the meals. Most participating districts still collect some type of eligibility information on an annual basis so as to not impact the Title I allocations to sites, but eligibility determinations cannot be altered during this period. In years two through four, sites only need to count and claim the total reimbursable meals; the eligibility percentages from year one are applied to the total for reimbursement purposes. School nutrition programs should contact their State Agencies for assistance on how to implement Provision 2 in some or all of their schools (see USDA memo).
Provision 3
Provision 3 reduces application burden and meal counting and claiming procedures. It allows schools to simply receive the same level of federal cash and commodity assistance each year, with some adjustments, for a four-year period. Schools must serve meals to all participating children at no charge for a period of four years. These schools do not make additional eligibility determinations. Instead, they receive the level of federal cash and commodity support paid to them in their “base year,” which is the last year they made eligibility determinations and meal counts by type. For each of the four years, the level of federal cash and commodity support is adjusted to reflect changes in enrollment and inflation. The base year is not included as part of the four years. At the end of each four-year period, the state agency may approve four-year extensions if the income level of the school’s population remains stable. Schools electing this alternative must pay the difference between federal reimbursement and the cost of providing all meals at no charge. The money to pay for this difference must be from sources other than federal funds.
