Tools for Schools offers topic-specific policy and resource materials to assist schools in meeting the new nutrition standards. Refer to the latest regulations, find free nutrition education curricula, or get ideas for adding tasty, kid-friendly foods to enhance your school meals program.
A webinar for state agencies and local program operators sharing proactive strategies to prevent and manage unpaid meal charges as schools return to standard counting and claiming in SY 2022-23.
This webinar is intended for states and school districts that serve direct delivered USDA Foods for child nutrition programs.
School meals are giving kids the goodness of whole grains. Whole grains give kids B vitamins, minerals, and fiber to help them feel full longer so they stay alert to concentrate at school. Beginning SY 2019-2020, half of the weekly grains offered must be whole grain-rich and the remaining grain items must be enriched.
Schools are an important player in overall national efforts to reduce the amount of salt that people eat. As such, schools participating in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs will continue to reduce the amount of salt in meals by choosing lower sodium versions of foods and flavoring foods with spices and herbs. See the resources below for information about sodium limits in school meals and guidance on selecting and preparing foods with less sodium.
This question and answer memorandum is designed to provide an overview of policies related to unpaid meal charges and to address common questions FNS has received from state agencies, school food authorities, and local program operators.
The purpose of this memorandum is to strongly encourage local educational agencies to accept eligibility determinations from a transferring student’s former LEA to minimize disruptions in meal benefits for low-income students and avoid student debt resulting from unpaid meal charges.
There has been confusion about how unpaid meal charges must be handled when all collection efforts have been exhausted. To help address these situations, this memorandum clarifies the processes of designating delinquent debt that has been determined to be uncollectable as bad debt and obtaining assistance to offset bad debt losses.