[1] One of the key simplifications of community eligibility is that participating schools no longer
collect school meal applications.
[6] Community eligibility schools, however, may not
collect school meal applications or use funds from the school nutrition account to collect individual income data.
This brief describes one of the key simplifications of community eligibility: participating schools no longer
collect school meal applications.
Not exact matches
The Community Eligibility Program (CEP) is a
meal service option for
schools and
school districts in low - income areas — allowing the nation's highest poverty
schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without the burden of
collecting household
applications.
Because
school districts using CEP no longer
collect meal applications at all
schools, states have developed alternative data sources for assessing the poverty level of
schools.
CEP is designed to ensure access to
school meals by students from low - income families and simplify administration of the
school meal programs by eliminating the use of
applications to
collect family income information and the need to track children by eligibility category in the lunchroom.
For allocating state or local funds to districts or
schools, alternative data can be used in lieu of the income data
collected on
school meal applications.
The community eligibility provision allows
schools with high numbers of low - income children serve breakfast and lunch at no charge without
collecting school -
meal - benefit
applications.
Through CEP, eligible
schools can provide
meal service to all students at no charge, regardless of economic status and without the need to
collect eligibility data through household
applications.
As an alternative to
collecting individual
applications for F / RP
meals, CEP allows
schools and local educational agencies (LEA) with a high percentage of low - income children to offer free
meals to all students.
The idea is to allow
schools with high percentages of low - income children to offer free
meals for all, instead of
collecting individual
applications for free and reduced price
meals.
As opposed to
collecting individual
applications for free and reduced - price
meals, the CEP allows LEAs and
schools meeting the eligibility requirements to use information provided from other direct certification programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Assistance Program for Needy Families (TANF).
For states and localities where universal access is unrealistic, an expansion of the community eligibility program, which allows
schools and districts in low - income areas to serve free breakfast and lunch to all students without
collecting applications, would be an interim step to consider.44 Making free
meals universal would ensure that all students experiencing food insecurity have access to healthy, nutritious
meals; end the stigma surrounding
school lunch; and eliminate administrative barriers to accessing the program.