FNS Documents & Resources

A final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Community Eligibility Provision-Increasing Options for Schools (88 FR 65778), was published on Sept. 26, 2023, with an effective date of Oct. 26, 2023, that established the 25 percent minimum ISP threshold.  As a result, more students, households, and schools have the opportunity to experience CEP’s benefits, such as increasing access to school meals at no cost, eliminating unpaid meal charges, minimizing stigma, and streamlining meal service operations.

Households with a child  approved to receive free or reduced price meals under the National School Lunch Program or the School Breakfast Program during the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year are eligible for the Federal Communication Commission’s Emergency Broadband Benefit. EBB is a federal program to help eligible families pay for internet service during the pandemic.

This memorandum details guidance on the annual Community Eligibility Provision notification and publication requirements and provides information on the USDA-developed reporting template.

This memorandum provides revised policy guidance on certification periods pertaining to zero income households in FDPIR. FNS Handbook 501 provides that households who report zero income month after month must be asked as to how they sustain themselves and other household members.

The purpose of this memorandum is to implement a provision affecting mandatory direct certification for children in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program households.

We were asked by the FCC to issue a reminder about cooperating with contractors auditing school districts’ receipt of funds under the FCC’s E-Rate fund.  Auditing for the current cycle is scheduled to begin in December 2008. 

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act authorizes FNS to award $9,000,000 in FY 2006 to be used to assist states in implementing mandatory direct certification and other provisions related to certification and verification of students’ eligibility to receive free and reduced price meal benefits in the school nutrition programs.

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004  requires school districts to directly certify for free school meals any child who is a member of a household receiving assistance under the Food Stamp Program.