This notice announces the Department's annual adjustments to the Income Eligibility Guidelines to be used in determining eligibility for free and reduced price meals, free milk, and Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer benefits for the period from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.
The Operational Challenges in Child Nutrition Programs surveys, are designed to collect timely data on emerging school food service operational challenges, including but not limited to supply chain disruptions, food costs, and labor shortages, and/or related issues.
The purpose of this voluntary recognition initiative is to encourage Summer Meal Programs' sponsors to offer higher quality, nutritious meals that make a positive impact on children's healthy development.
The Summer Food Service Program Integrity Study was designed to improve understanding of how state agencies provide oversight of the SFSP. To address the research objectives, the study examined such areas as sponsor and site selection, training and technical assistance, meal counting and claiming, and reviews. The findings, based on data collected in 2021, also offered some preliminary responses about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SFSP operations.
FNS collects information for this collection, which contains both mandatory and required to obtain or retain benefit requirements, from state agencies, LEAs/SFAs, and households. The information collected from the state agencies and the LEAs/SFAs ensures that eligibility determinations are made, that applications are verified, that eligibility and other records are maintained, and that public notification is provided concerning the programs.
This ongoing information collection is required to administer and operate this program in accordance with the NSLA. The program is administered at the state agency and school food authority/local education agency levels and states, SFAs/LEAs, and schools under this Act are required to keep accounts and records as may be necessary to enable FNS to determine whether the program is in compliance with this Act and the regulations.
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted school meal operations and has contributed to lasting supply chain issues affecting the cost and availability of food and labor. The School Food Authority Survey II on Supply Chain Disruption and Student Participation was administered to all SFAs operating child nutrition programs in schools to gather information on the impacts of continued supply chain disruptions and the return to standard operations during SY 2022–23.
This notice announces the national average value of donated foods or, where applicable, cash in lieu of donated foods, to be provided in school year 2024 (July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024) for each lunch served by schools participating in the NSLP, and for each lunch and supper served by institutions participating in the CACFP.
The purpose of this new collection is to collect qualitative and quantitative stakeholder feedback through meetings, focus groups, interviews, other stakeholder interactions and surveys, as well as requests for administrative data, as part of the planning process for FNS regulatory actions, the semi-annual regulatory agenda, research studies, outreach, training and the development of guidance.
This collection is a revision of a currently approved collection that FNS employs to determine public participation in the National School Lunch Program and to obtain, account for, and record information from state and program operators that is necessary to effectively manage the NSLP and ensure compliance with statutory and regulatory program requirements.