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NSLP
Application/Verification Pilot Project:
Report on First Year Experience
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
Twenty-two
School Food Authorities (SFAs) across 16
States began testing pilot procedures in
2000-01 to determine and verify the
eligibility of children for Free and
Reduced Price (F/RP) school meals. Three
pilot F/RP eligibility determination
models are being tested over a
three-year period. The three models are:
This
project responds to a growing concern on
the part of the Food and Nutrition
Service (FNS) about program integrity
issues associated with the current
system by which SFAs determine
eligibility for F/RP school meals. This
report provides a description of these
SFAs' experience during their first year
under the pilot procedures (2000-01),
drawing comparisons with the same SFAs'
NSLP operations over a two-year
pre-pilot baseline. Results are
presented for each pilot group.
First
Year Highlights:
Up-Front
Documentation (8 SFAs)
SFAs
operating this pilot project require all
non-directly certified households to
provide documentation of household
income upon submission of F/RP
application materials.
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Free
and reduced-price approvals fell
substantially. There was an
average decrease of 20.2 percent and
8.8 percent in the proportion of
enrolled children approved for free
and reduced-price meals on the basis
of an application, respectively,
across the eight SFAs.
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All
8 SFAs experienced a drop in the
number of children approved for free
meals. The largest drop was 51.7
percent and the smallest drop was
9.2 percent.
-
Free
meals served fell at a rate similar
to the drop in free approvals. The
average SFA had a decrease in the
number of free lunches served of
21.0 percent. There was little
change (decline of 1 percent) in the
average number of reduced price
lunches served. Meanwhile, the
average SFA in this group had an
increase in the number of paid meals
served of 8 percent.
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Total
lunches served declined modestly.
On average, there was a 3-percent
decrease in the number of lunches
served in 2000-01 compared to the
baseline across the 8 SFAs.
Graduated
Verification (4 SFAs)
SFAs in this
pilot project are required to conduct
expanded verification if their initial
verification sample results in more than
one-quarter of all verified applications
having a reduction or termination of
free or reduced price meal benefits.
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3
of 4 SFAs had initial verification
results that triggered expanded
verification samples. Among the
initial verification sample, 49
percent of children whose
applications were verified had a
reduction or termination of
benefits. In the 2nd and 3rd rounds,
the reduction / termination rates
were 46 and 55 percent,
respectively.
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36
percent of children approved for
free or reduced price meal benefits
with an application had a reduction
or termination in their benefits
through the verification process.
45 percent of children enrolled in
these four school districts, on
average, had been free or reduced
price approved at the beginning of
the school year (September 2000). An
estimated 29 percent of enrolled
children would have been approved
for such benefits at the conclusion
of all verification activities
(April 2001).
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Free
meals served fell by 19.9 percent in
the 3 SFAs that conducted expanded
verification in April/May 2001.
Reduced price meals served dropped
by 7.6 percent and paid meals
increased by 29.0 percent over the
same time period.
-
Total
meals dropped modestly in April/May
2001. Overall, across the three
SFAs that conducted expanded
verification, there was an average
drop of 1.1 percent in the total
number of meals served.
Verify
Direct Certification (7 SFAs)
SFAs operating
this pilot project were required to
verify the eligibility of all children
directly-certified for free meal
benefits prior to the 2000-01 school
year by Dec. 15, 2000.
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Almost
nine-tenths of directly-certified
children that were verified were
receiving FS/TANF benefits at the
time of verification.
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A
majority of children who no longer
received FS/TANF benefits were
approved for free or reduced price
meal benefits by submitting a new
application. On average, 59.9
percent of these children submitted
a new application and 97.9 percent
of these applications were approved
for free or reduced price status.
27.3 percent of children who no
longer received FS/TANF benefits
remained enrolled in the pilot
school district but did not submit a
new application while 12.8 percent
of these children disenrolled.
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Verification
of directly-certified children
resulted in the reduction or
termination of free meal benefits
for very few children. In the
average pilot SFA, only 6.6 percent
of directly-certified children in
the SFAs had a reduction or
termination of benefits. Initial
results provide strong evidence that
very few directly-certified children
become income-ineligible later
within the same school year in which
they were directly-certified.
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The
standard income verification process
resulted in a much higher
termination / reduction rate than
the verification of direct
certification. On average, 52.6
percent of application-approved
children had a reduction or
termination in benefits.
Last modified:
05/22/2009
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