National School Lunch Program

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 (*).

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.  

The 2023-2024 School Year Income Verification Procedures can be found under the Eligibility tab at: https://www.cn.nysed.gov/manual/verification-procedures.

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)

The Keep Kids Fed Act of 2022 (KKFA), which President Biden signed into law on June 25, 2022, provides additional support and resources to help Child Nutrition Program (CN) operators continue to serve healthy meals to children during this challenging time.

While KKFA does not extend the broader waiver authority or the resources that would allow USDA to extend the full range of flexibilities currently in place—most notably the ability to serve all meals for free—it is a critical step forward.

*This is a consolidated list of information available on the website regarding program operations for school year 2022-2023 Program operations.  Recent updates will be noted by the asterisk (*).

Waivers Available for the 2022-2023 SY

The New York State Education Department has received State-level waiver authority from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to approve the following flexibilities that School Food Authorities (SFA) may need to respond and recover from the COVID 19 pandemic during the 2022-2023 school year. These flexibilities should be used only for the duration and extent that they are needed. All waivers will expire on June 30, 2023.