The Child Nutrition Program Administration (CNPA) at SED will be enhancing the existing Child Nutrition Management System (CNMS) and related Direct Certification Matching Process (DCMP).  As part of our mission to preserve the nutritional and fiscal integrity of NYS Child Nutrition Programs, CN’s primary objective is to ensure all eligible children receive free or reduced priced meals. 

Beginning July 1, 2017, the CNPA will be launching a new functionality within the New York State Student Identification System (NYSSIS) Web application which will move the DCMP from the local level to the State level. (The NYSSIS Web app is accessible to authorized users through the NYSED Application Business Portal. 

This Child-Nutrition-specific functionality within the NYSSIS Web app will provide authorized users access to direct certification data, which will match NYSED student records in the NYSSIS system (including your students’ local ID) to records from other State agency data sources such as OTDA/SNAP and DOH/Medicaid. 

In the coming weeks, CNPA will be providing more details regarding this new process through e-mails and on the Child Nutrition Knowledge Center (CNKC).  While we transition to this new web application, we will continue to allow SFA’s access to the direct certification data via the current process through CNMS.   CNPA will also be providing training and guidance during the late spring, summer and fall for all SFAs participating in child nutrition programs.

It is hoped that a move to a State-level match system, when combined with existing SED processes and data stores such as SIRS, will provide increased access to free meals to children entitled to free meal benefits and allow for more accurate reporting, better policy and decision making at the local, State and federal levels.