LCFF Alternate Forms In the absence
of school meal applications, California's schools will need to gather individual income information from the students to receive full funding from the LCFF.
Not exact matches
In her
application essay for consideration for an SNF scholarship, Paull wrote, «I am so proud
of the work we do in our
schools teaching nutrition and providing healthy
meals.
CEO allows
schools to serve free breakfast and free lunch to all students when 40 percent or more
of students are certified for free
meals without a paper
application, which includes students who are directly certified (through data matching) for free
meals because they live in households that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), as well as children who are automatically eligible for free
school meals because
of their status in foster care or Head Start, homeless, or migrant.
When the family fills out the free
meal application and lists $ 0 as their income, the student can get 8 weeks
of temporary free status; after 8 weeks, the family needs to fill out another
application (and so on, every 8 weeks for the whole
school year.)
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.
This brief describes one
of the key simplifications
of community eligibility: participating
schools no longer collect
school meal 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.
Other LAs with a different set up for free
school meals applications (it often sits within another department) will need to work together to find common ground for the benefits
of our pupils and
schools.
The CEP was one
of the less publicized gains
of the Healthy, Hunger - Free Kids Act (HHFKA), allowing
schools to provide universal
meals to an entire
school based on «direct certification» data, such as how many children live in households receiving food stamps (SNAP benefits), without also requiring annual paper
applications submitted by parents.
I'm back from summer vacation in time to share some nice news: Houston ISD, the seventh largest district in the country, has announced that it's taking advantage
of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) to provide universal (free)
school breakfast and lunch to every student at 166
of its
schools, regardless
of economic status, and without the need for
meal applications or other paperwork.
Huge data sets were shared with IDEO staff for their project, but even members
of the SF Board
of Education have no access to files showing how many students at each
school have not yet returned a
meal application, or how many ate
school lunch in October, or how much cafeteria debt each
school is accumulating.
Identified students include those who qualify for free
meals because they live in households that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), as well as children who are certified for free
school meals without submitting a
school meal application because
of their status as being in foster care, enrolled in Head Start, homeless, runaway, or migrant students.
A
school, group
of schools, or an entire local educational agency (LEA or
school district) may operate under CEP if the LEA chooses to do so and if at least 40 percent
of the total enrollment is approved for free
school meals without an
application.
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.
When
school districts implement community eligibility, however, they no longer have the individual income data from those
meal applications for the students attending community eligibility
schools — data that programs outside
of the
school meal programs often use.
The positive experience
of states and
school districts that have implemented community eligibility demonstrates that while they can no longer use
school meal application data to allocate funds, states and localities should not be dissuaded from adopting community eligibility.
[1] One
of the key simplifications
of community eligibility is that participating
schools no longer collect
school meal applications.
A
school, group
of schools, or an entire local educational agency (LEA or
school district) may offer community eligibility if the number
of children enrolled for free
school meals without a paper
application, referred to as «Identified Students,» is at least 40 percent
of the total enrollment.
Disadvantage: The estimated ratio
of students approved for free
meals without an
application to FRPL students may not be applicable to individual
schools or LEAs, especially if the LEA has been counting only free
meal recipients (see below).
Because students approved for free
meals without an
application are a subset
of students who would qualify for free or reduced - price
school meals if their families completed an
application, this approach is likely to lower the percentage
of students considered low - income at all
schools.
The 1.6 multiplier is an estimate
of the ratio
of the total number
of students approved for free and reduced - price
school lunches to the number
of students approved for free
meals without an
application.
Identified Students are always a subset
of the students who would qualify for free or reduced - price
school meals if their families completed an
application.
Likewise, it is critical that a desire for data traditionally gathered from
meal applications does not stand in the way
of districts and
schools implementing community eligibility, which can help support educational achievement, reduce hunger, and improve children's nutrition and health.
Other LAs with a different set up for free
school meals applications (it often sits within another department) will need to work together to find common ground for the benefits
of our pupils and
schools.
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.
Meal benefits from the previous
school year apply for the first 30
school days
of the new
school year or until a new
application is submitted.
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.
Applications are due to the State - level agency administering the Federal
school meal programs by August 31, 2015, to ensure implementation
of CEP for the 2015 - 2016
school year.