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USDA Report Highlights Positive Effects of Direct Certification on School Meal Access

More Children in Need Receive Free School Meals

WASHINGTON, Nov 3, 2009 -USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) today published "Direct Certification of the National School Lunch Program: State Implementation Progress," showing that the share of local educational agencies conducting direct certification grew to 78 percent, which represents 96 percent of all students, from a rate of 67 percent reported last year.

"Ensuring that all eligible children receive nutritious meals through the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs is a top priority for the Obama Administration and a key step towards ending childhood hunger," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Direct certification is a critical tool in ensuring that low-income children are automatically enrolled in school meals programs. We are working with States to expand its use and effectiveness, and will seek ways to strengthen the program in the Child Nutrition Reauthorization."

The report responds to the legislative requirement of the 2008 Farm Bill (P.L.110-246) to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. The 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act required all local educational agencies (LEAs) to establish a system of direct certification of children from households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP - formerly Food Stamp Program) benefits by school year (SY) 2008-2009. The mandate was phased in over 3 years. Direct certification allows States and LEAs to use data from other means-tested programs to certify children for free school meals without the need for household applications.

"Direct certification helps simplify and expedite enrolling eligible children in the program. It is a practice we will continue to promote so our children can access nutritious meals needed for good health," said Kevin Concannon, USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services. "Congress recently provided $22 million for Direct Certification Grants to improve performance in States with the lowest rates of directly certified children. This report will help us to share promising lessons from the most successful States. The grants and the report are two important parts of our strategy to make access to school meals as easy as possible for children in need in every school district in the country."

The report shows schools have increased their use of direct certification. In SY 2008-2009, 78 percent of all LEAs directly certified some SNAP participants. These LEAs enroll 96 percent of all students in schools that participate in the NSLP. This is an increase from SY 2004-2005, when 56 percent of LEAs, enrolling 79 percent of all students in NSLP schools, directly certified SNAP-participant students.

The report also shows that some direct certification systems are more effective than others, and identifies best practices such as conducting more frequent computer matches of SNAP participant and student datasets, and using Web-based lookup systems to verify the SNAP-participant status of individual students, to strengthen direct certification.

States with the highest rate of directly certifying school-age SNAP participants for school meals includes:

• Alaska

• Delaware

• New York

• Tennessee

• Nevada

The NSLP, a federally-funded meal program, provides nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to 31 million children each school day. It operates in more than 102,000 public and nonprofit private schools and residential child care institutions across the country. SNAP, the largest of FNS' 15 nutrition assistance programs, serves 35.8 million Americans each month, half of whom are children.

For more information about the report or FNS' nutrition assistance programs visit www.fns.usda.gov.