National School Lunch Program

A printer-friendly version of the memo and Q&As can be found here.

From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided operational flexibilities and additional funding to School Food Authorities (SFAs) to help overcome challenges and ensure children have continued access to meals. As a result, many SFAs now have a substantial positive balance in their school food service accounts, some in excess of the maximum balance allowed by federal regulations. This memo provides guidance to SFAs on current flexibilities and acceptable uses of the school food service account funds.

Original memo dated 10/03/2022.  Recent updates will be noted by the asterisk (*).

New York State has banned the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals (PFAS) in food packaging, enacted under the Hazardous Packaging Act, Title II of Article 37 of the Environmental Conservation Law, which will take effect on December 31, 2022. The term package is those intended for direct food contact and comprised of paper, paperboard, or other materials derived from plant fibers and includes many items used in school foodservice such as trays, bags, sandwich wrappers, soup cups, etc.

The United States Department of Agriculture has provided funds to reimburse School Food Authorities (SFA) for administrative costs incurred to support P-EBT during the federal fiscal year (FY) 2022. These funds are made available under Section 4601 of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2021 and Other Extensions Act.

SFA Eligibility

All SFAs, with P-EBT eligible students, that were active in the 2021-22 school year and are currently participating in Child Nutrition Programs are eligible to receive the FY 2022 P-EBT Local Level Administrative Cost Grant.  

Original memo with signature can be found at http://www.cn.nysed.gov/common/cn/files/return2schcnresources.pdf.

When schools open this fall, school meal programs must return to pre-pandemic operations. This means that many districts will transition back to requiring family applications for free and reduced-price meals. Students who are not income eligible will be required to pay for meals at the paid price.

Click here to access the Toolkit by No Kid Hungry's Center for Best Practices.

The School Meals Applications Outreach Toolkit is designed to help school districts get the word out to families about why completing and submitting FRP applications is important for the 2022-2023 school year.

The toolkit comes complete with:

As part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the President and Congress created the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), which provides eligible households up to $30/month (or $75/month for households living on Tribal lands) toward their internet bills, as well as a one-time discount of up to $100 to purchase a laptop, desktop computer, or tablet. 

Adult Selling Prices

Breakfast

• Schools that receive regular reimbursement for breakfast must charge a minimum of $2.37 plus tax for an adult breakfast meal.
• Schools that receive severe need reimbursement for breakfast must charge a minimum of $2.78 plus tax for an adult breakfast meal.

Lunch

• Schools that receive under 60% plus the additional PBR* ($4.4699) for lunch must charge a minimum of $4.90 plus tax for an adult lunch.

The list of applicants that have been selected to receive the FY 2021 National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Equipment Assistance Grant for School Food Authorities (SFAs) can be found in the link below. 

FY 2021 Equipment Grant Awards (EXCEL) (PDF)