This is the first of a series of annual reports which will assess the administrative error associated with school food authorities’ approval of applications for free and reduced-price school meals. More than 95 percent of students who were approved for benefits on the basis of an application were receiving correct benefits, based on the information in the application files. In school year 2004-05, 3.5 percent of all students who submitted an application for free/reduced-price meal benefits had an administrative error in the processing of their applications,

The Analysis of the Summer Food Service Program and Food Needs of Non-participating Children was designed to determine why children who attended elementary school during the 2003-2004 school year and were eligible for free or reduced-price meals did not participate in SFSP. For the purposes of this report, children who are eligible for free or reduced-priced meals will be referred to as "SFSP-eligible children." 

This is the first of a series of annual reports which will assess the administrative error associated with school food authorities’ approval of applications for free and reduced-price school meals. More than 95 percent of students who were approved for benefits on the basis of an application were receiving correct benefits, based on the information in the application files. In school year 2004/05, 3.5 percent of all students who submitted an application for free/reduced-price meal benefits had an administrative error in the processing of their applications.

USDA sponsored the NSLP Application/Verification Pilot Projects to test ways to improve the process for certifying students for free or reduced-price meals. This report presents findings on the impacts of two alternatives to the current application-based certification process - Up-Front Documentation and Graduated Verification - that were tested in 12 public school districts over a three-year period.

This “briefing report” summarizes research recently undertaken for FNS to develop a methodological basis for obtaining detailed information on the competitive foods sold in schools.

This report presents the results of a case study of verification in 21 large metropolitan SFAs around the country. The study examined outcomes of the verification process and made an independent assessment of income eligibility of households with specific verification outcomes using data from in-person interviews with families.

This document summarizes the preliminary findings of two projects being completed by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. on the subject of certification accuracy in the National School Lunch Program: Evaluation of the National School Lunch Program Application/Verification Pilot Projects: Findings on Deterrence, Barriers and Accuracy, and Case Study of Verification Outcomes in Large Metropolitan Areas.

From July to September 2002, FNS reviewed the free and reduced price eligibility determination process (i.e., application, verification, reapplication, meal ticket status) for each of 3,474 applications selected for verification in 14 large school food authorities in the 2001-02 school year. These SFAs enroll nearly one million children, among whom 45 percent were approved for free meals and 7 percent were approved for reduced price meals as of Oct. 31, 2001.

Twenty-two school food authorities across 16 states began testing pilot procedures in 2000-01 to determine and verify the eligibility of children for free and reduced price school meals. Three pilot F/RP eligibility determination models are being tested over a three-year period. 

Research conducted in the early 1990s indicated that school meals, on balance, were failing to meet certain key nutritional goals. In light of these findings, the USDA launched a far-reaching reform of the school meals programs, a reform aimed at upgrading the nutritional content of school meals. Several elements of this reform are collectively referred to as the School Meals Initiative for Healthy Children (SMI). The status of this initiative, together with an examination of selected operational issues of these programs, are the principal subjects of this report.