FNS Documents & Resources

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 pre-recorded webinar features USDA Farm to School Program staff, who summarize grantee reporting requirements and review the processes for submitting no-cost extensions, as well as project and budget amendments.

The Farm to School Census and Comprehensive Review includes the 2019 Farm to School Census; a descriptive review of the USDA Farm to School grant program; a review of published research on farm to school since 2010; and a set of interviews with school food distributors. 

Why is streamlining a big deal? Because reducing paperwork increases program efficiency, to make CACFP work better! Whether you are wondering how to make the best use of resources to implement the new meal requirements, or just looking for ideas to help you operate the program more effectively, here is information you can use!

School meals are required to meet specific nutrition standards to operate the school meals programs. The standards align school meals with the latest nutrition science and the real world circumstances of America’s schools. 

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.

Attached for your use is a prototype Performance Work Statement, Evaluation Criteria and Performance Metrics document to assist state agencies that wish to procure a contract(s) to perform the performance-based reimbursement certification and other training activities to support the Certification of Compliance With Meal Requirements for the National School Lunch Program Under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 Interim Rule and the new meal pattern final rule.

Recently, we have received several questions regarding the operation of a school garden. Attached are questions and answers to address this issue. As in the past, please share this information with your school food authorities.