Washington DC, May 4, 2015 – Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today announced the results of a nationwide assessment of improper payments in school meals programs, as well as several steps to sustain progress by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in reducing errors and improving school meal program integrity. Schools are responsible for ensuring that school meal programs operate according to federal requirements. Today’s announcement will provide $8.5 million in grants to improve schools’ operational and oversight efforts in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. In addition, a new rule is being proposed to help states better target resources to districts at highest risk of improper payments. Combined, these efforts will decrease administrative errors and waste while streamlining the certification process so children can get access to the nutrition they need to learn and thrive.

“Reducing errors in our school meal programs is a top priority for USDA,” said Concannon. “The data show that we are moving in the right direction, and the efforts announced today will help schools continue to reduce errors in the school meal programs. By focusing on program efficiencies, we protect taxpayer dollars and ensure the school meal programs remain available to the millions of children who rely on them.”

In order to ensure proper stewardship of these vital programs, USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service developed a study series titled Access, Participation, Eligibility and Certification (APEC) to collect nationally-representative data from schools and school food authorities every five years. This study estimates improper payment rates and amounts in three key areas: aggregation, certification, and meal claiming errors.

• Aggregation errors occur when a school undercounts or over counts the number of meals that are eligible for reimbursement.
• Certification errors occur when a child is placed into the wrong meal reimbursement category, such as when a child who is eligible for reduced priced meals is certified for free meals, or when a child who is eligible for free meals is denied.
• Meal claiming errors occur when a meal is categorized incorrectly as reimbursable or non-reimbursable at the point-of-sale in the cafeteria. These errors typically involve a required item, such as a milk or fruit being left off of a tray by the student.

Today, USDA is releasing the second iteration of that study, which shows that while the overall level of program error remains unacceptably high, there have been notable areas of improvement. The overall error rate has been reduced, with significant declines in the frequency of aggregation errors – from 3.8 percent to 0.8 percent in the National School Lunch Program and from 6.0 percent to 1.2 percent in the School Breakfast Program.

The $8.5 million in grants are a continuation of USDA’s efforts to ensure proper and efficient administration of its child nutrition programs. Four million dollars will be targeted toward states’ work to improve the integrity and efficiency of school meals administration through development and implementation of administrative review and training tools and strategies, including technology solutions. Another $4.5 million will go toward increasing the use of direct certification, the process of using income data already verified from SNAP applications to certify children in those households for free meals without requiring a second application. Findings from this new study demonstrate that direct certifications are substantially more accurate than certifications based on paper applications.

Other ongoing USDA initiatives aimed at future long-term reduction in program error include:

• Implementation of the Community Eligibility Provision, which allows high-poverty school and districts to provide free meals to all students without needing to collect applications, certify individual students, or manage student payment accounts;
• A redesigned administrative review process, adopted by most state agencies in school year 2013-2014;
• Implementation of new professional standards for school foodservice personnel effective for school year 2015-2016;
• Release of an updated prototype school meals application in 2015 developed jointly by USDA and the Office of Personnel Management’s Innovation Lab;
• New research on household application errors; and
• The establishment of a new Office of Program Integrity to lead the development of future data and evidence-driven reforms.

One of the many tools the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 provided USDA to help address improper payments in the school meal programs was an update to the administrative review process used by state agencies to monitor local school meal service. A proposed rule implementing this provision, also announced today, includes risk-based approaches to enable states to target error prone areas and schools needing the most compliance assistance. The proposed rule also includes a number of recommendations such as off-site monitoring approaches that will result in more agility, and greater ability to use state staff efficiently.

“The updated procedures are meant to give states more tailored ability to conduct reviews, allow for the efficient use of limited time and staff, and result in more robust and transparent monitoring of school nutrition programs,” said Concannon. “Through this combination of financial support for schools, rule-making, and promoting the use of direct certification and the community eligibility provision, USDA is committed to continuing our progress in reducing the rate of improper payments in our school nutrition programs.”

The comment period for the proposed rule is open for 60 days after date of publication in the Federal Register. Feedback from state agencies, school food authorities, and other interested parties is an important part of the rulemaking process. To view the proposed rule online and submit comments, visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/school-meals/federal-register-documents.

All state agencies interested in applying for the grants announced today can visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/grant-opportunities.

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service administers America’s nutrition assistance programs including the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the Summer Food Service Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Together these programs make up the federal nutrition safety net.

Washington, DC, August 15, 2011 - Today, USDA Under Secretary Kevin Concannon hosted a conference call to highlight the historic school nutrition reforms and improvements that students and families will see in the new school year. The reforms, delivered through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA), are improving the nutritional quality of school meals and bolstering the entire school environment. Concannon also announced that schools nationwide reached First Lady Michelle Obama's goal of 1,250 schools receiving HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) honors for expanding nutrition and physical activity opportunities.

"The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act is a great win for our kids and the health of our nation," said Concannon. "I want to recognize the hundreds of schools that have already made great progress toward achieving school meals reforms – and can serve as models for others seeking to make improvements. By fueling our nation's children with the healthiest foods possible while at school, we can reinforce the healthy lifestyles that many parents are already teaching their children at home, which will put them in a position to thrive, grow and ultimately reach their full potential."

Under Secretary Concannon announced that schools had reached the goal of 1,250 schools receiving HealthierUS School Challenge honors for expanding nutrition and physical activity opportunities. HUSSC is a key component of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative to end childhood obesity within a generation. Last year, the First Lady and USDA challenged the nation's communities to double the number of HUSSC schools within in a year –reaching 1,250 schools by the end of June 2011. Schools participating in the Challenge are recognized with Gold Award of Distinction, Gold, Silver, or Bronze-level certification. Schools participating in the HUSSC voluntarily adopt USDA standards for food they serve at their schools, agree to provide nutrition education and to provide opportunities for physical activity.

USDA also took the opportunity to launch the Healthy Access Locator, a web-based resource that geographically pinpoints HUSSC award-winning schools and features built-in data on diet-related diseases. The web-based map allows users to search HealthierUS School Challenge awards by geography (national, regional, local), school type (elementary, middle, high), award type (bronze, silver, gold, gold award of distinction) and date of award.

Since President Obama signed the HHFKA into law on December 13, USDA has worked aggressively to implement the Act's historic reforms including provisions to simplify program administration and expand children's access to school meals. Key accomplishments include:

• Nationwide Expansion of At-Risk Afterschool Meals: USDA worked closely with states to expand the availability of afterschool meals across the nation to through the Child and Adult Care Food Program. USDA estimates this expansion could provide supper to an additional 140,000 kids in low-income areas.
• Categorical Eligibility for Foster Children: USDA issued guidance and provided technical assistance to states to ensure that more than 400,000 children in foster care are certified to receive free meals in all USDA child nutrition programs.
• Strengthening Direct Certification: USDA provided guidance, technical assistance and grant funding to states to improve their direct certification systems to help more children already receiving benefits from SNAP, TANF and FDPIR gain access to free school meals without the need for completing another eligibility form.
• Implementing Community Eligibility: USDA offered, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, to implement the new "community eligibility" approach to reimburse schools for meals without the need for paper applications.
• Simplified Area Eligibility for Family Day Care Homes: USDA implemented a provision that helps more family day care home providers receive the maximum meal reimbursement based on the location of their family day care business rather than an income eligibility application.
• Promoting School Breakfast Programs. USDA provided guidance for schools on the HHKFA provision requiring schools to conduct outreach on the availability of the School Breakfast Program. Research has shown that starting the day with a nutritious breakfast helps students stay alert and perform better in school.

In addition, USDA will continue to work with schools on improving the nutritional quality of food sold to children through six major components supported by the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act:

• Updated nutrition standards for school meals based on expert recommendations from the Institute of Medicine. USDA is reviewing over 132,000 comments from schools, States, parents and others on a proposed rule in order to complete a final rule.
• Science-based standards for all foods sold in school. These first ever national standards will ensure that foods and beverages sold in vending machines and other venues on school campuses contribute to a healthy diet.
• Increased funding for schools. The Act made the first real increase in school meal payments in 30 years – tied to strong performance in serving improved meals. The criteria to earn the increase will be ready when updated standards go into effect.
• Common-sense standards for revenue provided to school food authorities from non-Federal sources, to ensure that these revenues keep pace with the Federal commitment to healthy school meals and properly align with costs.
• Training and technical assistance to help schools achieve and monitor compliance. We are planning new training strategies to accompany the new nutrition standards.
• Healthy offerings through the USDA Foods program. USDA Foods are a critical part of the National School Lunch Program, constituting approximately 15-20% of the school lunch plate. Guided by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, USDA has made sweeping changes in the nutritional quality of these foods to further reduce fat, sodium, and added sugars. The Act requires the Department to purchase a wide variety of USDA Foods that support healthy meals and develop model specifications for foods purchased and served in the National School Lunch Program.

These school food improvements will be supported by other changes in the school environment, such as physical activity and nutrition education reforms, and strengthened local school wellness policies. School meals reach nearly 32 million children each school day nationwide, and many children consume as many as half their daily calories at school.