FNS Documents & Resources

The Special Milk Program provides milk to children in schools, child care institutions and eligible camps that do not participate in other federal child nutrition meal service programs. The program reimburses schools and institutions for the milk they serve. In 2011, 3,848 schools and residential child care institutions participated, along with 782 summer camps and 527 non‐residential child care institutions. Schools in the National School Lunch or School Breakfast Programs may also participate in the Special Milk Program to provide milk to children in half‐day pre‐kindergarten and kindergarten programs where children do not have access to the school meal programs.

The Special Milk Program (SMP) provides milk to children in schools, child care institutions, and eligible camps that do not participate in other Federal child nutrition programs. The SMP reimburses schools and institutions for the milk they serve. Schools participating in the National School Lunch or School Breakfast Programs may serve milk through SMP to children enrolled in half-day pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs if those children do not have access to the breakfast or lunch meal service.

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. 

School Food Authorities (SFAs) participating in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program are required to verify income for a small percentage of households approved for free or reduced price meals each school year. However, getting households to respond to verification requests can be challenging for SFA staff. If households do not respond, they lose their benefits regardless of their actual eligibility. In addition, the number of approved applications an SFA is required to verify is impacted by the number of responses they were able to obtain the previous year.

No later than July 1, 2017, all school food authorities (SFAs) operating National School Lunch and/or School Breakfast Program must have a written policy in place to address situations where children participating at the reduced price or paid rate do not have money to cover the cost of a meal at the time of the meal service. SFAs have discretion in developing the specifics of their policies, and FNS expects charge policies will vary based on local circumstances and available resources. This webinar provides an overview of the local charge policy requirement and shares best practices for successful policy development.

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is an administrative option for qualifying local educational agencies and schools with areas of low income that are participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program. This technical assistance webinar highlights best practices for school districts electing CEP in some, but not all, of their schools.

This webinar provides an overview of the Guidance for School Food Authorities and State Agencies; Contracting with Food Service Management Companies, published in June 2016 and is presented now as this is the season for school food authorities to begin soliciting for these services.