FNS Documents & Resources

This memorandum provides guidance and clarification regarding individual income eligibility determinations and duration in the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program.

This memorandum addresses inquiries regarding flexibility in determining the effective date of eligibility for students who are directly certified to receive free meals or free milk in the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Special Milk Program.

Section 4 of the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act provides general cash for food assistance payments to states to assist schools in purchasing food. The NSLA provides two different section 4 payment levels for lunches served under the NSLP.

Under the Community Eligibility Provision, schools do not collect or process meal applications for free and reduced-price meals served in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. Schools must serve all meals at no cost with any costs in excess of the federal reimbursement paid from non-federal sources. 

This memorandum provides guidance and clarification regarding individual income eligibility determinations and durations in the CACFP and the SFSP.

The administrators of the NAEP have asked that we remind school food authorities that they may disclose, without parent/guardian consent, children’s names and eligibility status (whether they are eligible for free meals or free milk or reduced price meals) to persons directly connected with the administration or enforcement of a federal or state education program.

This memorandum is to clarify the relationship between delayed implementation of Provision 2 and use of a child’s prior year’s eligibility status for the first 30 operating days in the new school year (“carryover”).

This memorandum supplements the guidance issued on May 16, 2008, concerning automatic eligibility for free meals for any child who is enrolled in Head Start.

The Child and Adult Care Food Program subsidizes nutritious meals and snacks served to participants in child care nationwide, providing different levels or “tiers” of meal reimbursement based on the income level of participating children, providers, and nearby geographic areas. Policymakers have long been concerned that programs such as CACFP are not as accessible to eligible children in rural areas as in urban areas.

This memorandum provides guidance regarding amendments to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act  that extend automatic eligibility for free meal benefits, including free milk, to all children enrolled in Head Start and participating in child nutrition programs.