Program Integrity: Eligibility

The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) provided schools and districts that predominately serve low-income children with a new option for meal certification.  Under the Community Eligibility Provision, schools do not collect or process meal applications for free and reduced-price meals served in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program.  Schools must serve all meals at no cost with any costs in excess of the Federal reimbursement paid from non-Federal sources.  The evaluation, mandated by HHFKA, examined the implementation and impacts of the Community Eligibility Provision.

The Addendum describes the characteristics of LEAs and schools that participated in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) in School Year 2013–14 in the 11 States where the CEP was offered. It also describes how these characteristics differ for those high-poverty LEAs and schools that did not take up the CEP. The Addendum updates the results presented primarily in Chapter 4 of the Community Evaluation Provision Evaluation report.