School Nutrition Bulletin 2021-20

 

If your school food authority (SFA) is operating under the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) or the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), all students are receiving a free meal, but their individual student meal eligibility may be different. Individual student meal eligibility may be needed for state reporting, the Wisconsin School Day Milk Program, and the Afterschool Snack Program at non-area eligible sites.

 

When determining a student’s eligibility, the most current eligibility determination applies. Any applications received and processed in SY 2020-21 and/or direct certification runs completed in SY 2020-21 will override the carryover status for students from SY 2019-20. As a reminder, an N code on direct certification is not considered a new eligibility determination.

 

Please note, all SFAs, regardless of the program you are operating to provide school meals in SY 2020-21, must continue to run direct certification a minimum of three times during 2020-21 SY with the full student enrollment. New meal eligibility statuses (via direct certification or approved USDA free and reduced meal applications) will be especially important for state reporting and qualifying students for potential P-EBT benefits.

 

If your SFA offers households the ability to have local fees waived (such as sports, band, and testing fees) for students that qualify for free or reduced-price meals, a new sharing of information form is required annually. This applies in SY 2020-21, even if the most current eligibility is from the carryover from SY 2019-20 and the household completed this form last year. More information on sharing of information is located on the Free and Reduced Meal Eligibility webpage.

 

ThePaid Lunch Price Reportand FNS-10 Report Instruction manuals have been updated to provide guidance on how to complete these reports for SFAs operating SSO or SFSP in SY 2020-21. These manuals are linked in the prior sentence and also located on the SNT Reporting webpage. As a reminder, these reports must be submitted to be able to submit the October lunch claim.

 

The USDA released Policy Memorandum SP 04-2021: Questions and Answers Relating to the Nationwide Waiver to Allow Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option Operations during School Year 2020-2021 – Q&As #3, which included guidance that the verification process is still required for all SFAs, regardless of the program being operated for the school meal programs in SY 2020-21. The verification process deadline has been extended to February 28, 2021 and is only required for any new applications received by your SFA in SY 2020-21 and approved as of October 1, 2020. Alternate household applications do not apply.

 

Any SFA operating the National School Lunch Program/School Breakfast Program this year that received and processed USDA Free and Reduced Price Meal Applications should move forward with completing the verification process and submitting the Verification Collection Report (VCR). The deadline to submit the VCR has been extended to April 1, 2021. All other verification requirements still apply.

 

For SFAs operating under SSO or SFSP, we suggest holding off on starting the verification process and completing the VCR. We are seeking further clarification from USDA and considering writing a waiver request to exempt SFAs operating SSO or SFSP from this requirement for SY 2020-21. Once more guidance is received, additional communications will be sent out to all SFAs. If you have already completed the verification process, please submit the VCR with the outcome of this process.

 

More information on verification is located on the Verification webpage.

 

The following information is for filing claims for any federal or state Child Nutrition Program.

 

Any claims for reimbursement submitted between the afternoon of December 15 and January 4 will be processed on Tuesday, January 5. Only one claim per program may be entered during this time per agency, including adjustments. If your claim is close to the 60-calendar day cutoff, please scan the claim and send it to Jacque Jordee at jacqueline.jordee@dpi.wi.gov.

 

See the Online Services webpage for the schedule for the reimbursement claim payments for the end of the calendar year.

 

If you have any questions or concerns please contact Jacque Jordee at jacqueline.jordee@dpi.wi.gov or by phone (608) 267-9134. Check out the Claim Submission Deadlines webpage for more information.

 

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This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

 

This is a communication from the WI Department of Public Instruction, School Nutrition Team.

You can contact the School Nutrition Team at dpifns@dpi.wi.gov. To subscribe to schoolmealsnews, please send an email to dpifns@dpi.wi.gov.

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