FNS Documents & Resources

School nutrition professionals continue to make school meals the healthiest meals children eat in a day! To take school meals to the next level, USDA is updating the school nutrition standards after considering recommendations from the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans and listening to a diverse range of voices with experience in child nutrition and health.

The CEP resource center provides extensive resources for parents, teachers, and school officials at the local, state and Federal level to better understand CEP and its positive benefits, along with useful tools to help facilitate successful implementation of the provision in your school!

Attached to this memorandum, please find a revised edition of the Prototype Application for Free and Reduced Price School Meals, with an accompanying instructions document. These materials may be adapted for direct use by state and local agencies, or as a reference for designing an effective application packet that meets all statutory and regulatory requirements. 

The purpose of this memorandum is to revise guidance on rural designations in the Summer Food Service Program and the National School Lunch Program’s Seamless Summer Option (SSO). The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 authorized a permanent non-congregate meal service option through the SFSP and SSO for children who live in rural communities with no congregate meal service. This memorandum supersedes SFSP policy memorandum SFSP 17-2015, Rural Designations in the Summer Food Service Program – Revised, April 21, 2017.

This agreement sets out the requirements for administering the child nutrition programs and the food distribution programs.

This document provides information to states to assist in the development of state plans to operate Pandemic EBT for school children and children in child care.

This webinar is intended for states and school districts that serve direct delivered USDA Foods for child nutrition programs.

This waiver facilitates state agencies abilities to conduct a school meal programs administrative review when a school food authority is only operating the National School Lunch Program Seamless Summer Option in SY 2021-22.

This waiver cancels selected administrative data reporting requirements in the child nutrition programs.

This memorandum includes questions and answers for state agencies and local program operators on flexibilities available under the child nutrition programs during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.