National School Lunch Program

We often receive questions from schools using electronic, scanned, and even paper applications asking if other additional information, which is not required to establish certification of eligibility for child nutrition programs (CNPs), may be requested of households when completing the application process.

The purpose of the application for free and reduced price school meals is to determine if a student’s household is eligible for school meal benefits based on income or categorical eligibility.  

The use of prepayment systems is growing increasingly popular.  As more and more schools are providing this service, questions have again risen as to if and when it can be used.  Consequently, I have revised the December 2005 memo on the subject to address new concerns.  The systems are marketed to appeal to parents by offering the convenience of payments for school meals through on-line use of credit cards.

With increasing frequency, school officials are requiring the submission of a free and reduced price meal application from all households with children enrolled in their school regardless of whether the household wishes to make application for free or reduced price meal benefits.

As more school food authorities are opting to use software programs to scan income eligibility applications, we have had conversations regarding their usage. Accordingly, we have adapted the following policies:

The New York State Correctional Law §500-b was amended on March 31, 2014 to change the minimum age classification in local correctional facilities in order to make NYS Correction Law consistent with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). Inmates under the age of eighteen must be separately housed from those inmates eighteen years of age and older.

Section 301 of the The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (the Act), Public Law 111-296  amends section 9(d)(1) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (42 U.S.C. 1758(d) (1)) by removing the requirement that the adult household member who signs a household application for free and reduced-price meals also must provide his or her complete Social Security Number (SSN), as a condition of eligibility.  As amended by the Act, Section 9(d)(1)  now requires that only the last four digits of the SSN must be provided on the application.

Attached are Revised Questions and Answers related to the Food and Nutrition Service prototype 6 Cents Certification Tool.  Please note that the only revision made to the Q&As is in question 14.  USDA has received several questions about this Q&A and has added information to make a more complete answer.

Menus must be in compliance with all meal pattern requirements regardless of the number of serving lines in the cafeteria. Minimum and maximum ranges for grains, meat/meat alternates and calories must be met by all food items on the menu for the entire cafeteria.  Each physical serving line must also be in compliance with the minimum and maximum ranges.

Local Education Agencies (LEAs) participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs should be aware that there is no federal or State regulation prohibiting students from having food or eating on the school bus.  This prohibition only applies to bus drivers.  The policy allowing or not allowing students to eat and drink on the bus is decided at the local level.

The issue of handling leftover food in school kitchens has been brought to our attention. In some instances there seems to be confusion about the proper procedures related to leftover food.