2022 RFA (648.82 KB)
2022 DC-M RFA Appendix A - Application Template (379.15 KB)
2022 DC-M RFA Webinar Slides (526.38 KB)
2022 DC-M RFA Webinar Follow-Up Q&As (162.34 KB)
2021 DC-M RFA (507.74 KB)
2021 DC-M RFA Appendix A (47.74 KB)
2021 DC-M RFA Appendix B (38.65 KB)
2021 DC-M RFA Webinar (610.56 KB)
2021 DC-M RFA Webinar Q&As (240.57 KB)
2021 DC-M Kick-Off Webinar Q&As (117.33 KB)
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service announced 12 new states approved to participate in the Direct Certification with Medicaid Demonstration Projects for school year (SY) 2023-24: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming. In addition, Pennsylvania has been approved for SY 2023-24 to expand their demonstration project to include reduced price meals. The addition of these states increases access for low-income children while reducing administrative burden for schools and parents/guardians, as well as improving program integrity. The total number of states participating in the demonstration projects will now be 38 as indicated in the table below.
| DC-M Pilot States since SY 2012-13 (free meals only) |
DC-M Pilot States since SY 2016-17 (free and reduced price meals) |
DC-M Pilot States since SY 2017-18 (free and reduced price meals) |
DC-M Pilot States since SY 2022-23 (free and reduced price meals) |
DC-M Pilot States for SY 2023-24 (free and reduced price meals) |
| California* Florida* Illinois* Kentucky Massachusetts* New York Pennsylvania* |
California*(14 districts) Florida* Massachusetts* Nebraska Utah Virginia West Virginia |
California* (statewide) Connecticut Indiana Iowa Michigan Nevada Texas Washington Wisconsin |
Alabama Illinois* Kansas Louisiana Maryland Minnesota North Carolina South Carolina |
Arizona Colorado Delaware Georgia Montana New Mexico Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania* Tennessee Vermont Wyoming |
| *Indicates states that have changed their pilot status over-time. States expanded their demonstration project to include additional locations and/or expand from free meals only to free and reduced price meals. | ||||
Under the pilot project authority in Section 18(c) of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act (NSLA), 42 USC 1769(c), the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) will conduct additional demonstration projects to expand the evaluation of direct certification with Medicaid (DC-M) for both free and reduced price (f/rp) meal eligibility in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP). DC-M is the use of Medicaid data files to identify children eligible to receive meals through the NSLP and SBP at free or reduced price without need of application.
State agencies that administer the NSLP and SBP may apply to participate in the demonstration project and conduct direct certification with Medicaid for both free and reduced price school meals in a portion of the local education agencies (LEAs) within their state or on a statewide basis. This opportunity applies to states that are not approved to participate in existing demonstration projects that started prior to SY 2020-21. It also applies to states that are participating in existing free price meal demonstration projects but are interested in conducting direct certification for both free and reduced price meal eligibility in all or a portion of their LEAs.
In these demonstration projects, direct certification using Medicaid data is limited to children who are members of households with income that does not exceed the following NSLP income standards:
- Free school meal eligibility, 130 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) for the family size used by Medicaid; and
- Reduced price school meal eligibility, 185 percent of the FPL for the family size used by Medicaid.
State agencies that administer the NSLP and SBP are invited to apply to participate in these demonstration projects to evaluate DC-M. Because FNS recognizes the challenges and time needed to establish data-sharing agreements and implement system changes so that data matching can begin. This Request for Applications (RFA) provides state agencies sufficient time to accomplish those requirements:
- Applications are due by Sept. 30, 2022, for demonstration projects beginning on July 1, 2023 for SY 2023-24.
- Direct Certification Medicaid Demonstration Project Request For Applications
- Direct Certification Medicaid Demonstration Project Request For Applications Appendix A - Application Template
- Direct Certification Medicaid Demonstration Project Request For Applications Appendix B - Letters of Commitment Templates
- USDA Direct Certification With Medicaid for Free and Reduced-Price Meals Demonstration, SY 2019-20
- Evaluation of the Direct Certification with Medicaid for Free and Reduced-Price Meals Demonstrations, Year 2, SY 2017-18
- Evaluation of the Direct Certification with Medicaid for Free and Reduced-Price Meals Demonstration - Year 1, SY 2016-17
- Evaluation of Demonstrations of Direct Certification of Children Receiving Medicaid Benefits for Free School Meals: Year 1 SY 2012-13