Wednesday, July 5, 2023
Announcements from the WI DPI School Nutrition Team (SNT)
- Updates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
- Updates from the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) School Nutrition Team
Updates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
USDA Policy Memorandum SEBT 01-2023: Initial Guidance for State Implementation of Summer EBT in 2024
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 (P.L. 117-328), established the permanent Summer EBT Program beginning in summer 2024. We are aware that States are already beginning to plan for Summer EBT and need certain information before the rule is published. FNS is issuing a memorandum to provide information to assist States in preparing to implement Summer EBT in 2024. Policy memorandum SEBT 01-2023 Initial Guidance for State Implementation of Summer EBT in 2024, June 7, 2023, is linked below. This memorandum provides initial guidance on the administration, funding, and operation of Summer EBT. A separate memorandum will be distributed in relation to Summer EBT for Covered Indian Tribal organizations.
Supply Chain Assistance Funds-Fourth Round Announced
USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) recently announced that an additional $1.2 billion in Supply Chain Assistance (SCA) Funds has been made available to assist school food authorities (SFAs) with supply chain related challenges. FNS wants to support our school nutrition professionals as they continue to navigate through these challenges. Therefore, FNS is providing an additional $1.2 billion in SCA funds under the same authority (CCC Charter Act [15 U.S.C. 714) to assist school programs in their efforts to provide consistent and nutritious school meals to children. The SCA funds are a critical funding stream that will provide an additional financial resource for SFAs to purchase domestic food products as part of school districts’ efforts to respond to these remaining supply chain challenges, enhance efforts to strengthen local food supply chains, and help schools to overcome financial and operational barriers while maintaining children’s access to nutritious meals.
State agencies will distribute this fourth round of SCA funding to eligible SFAs via the same formula used to distribute the first three rounds of funds. SCA funds remain limited to the purchase of unprocessed or minimally processed domestic food products (also referred to as commodities).
Reminder: The requirement to maintain no more than a three month operating balance in the nonprofit foodservice account does not impact an SFAs eligibility for and/or receipt of SCA funds. In cases where an SFA has an operating balance over three months, the State agency may approve net cash resources in excess of three months and should work with the SFA on a plan to spend down the funds.
USDA FNS expects to release the corresponding memorandum with additional details shortly. Wisconsin has been allocated $20,685,957.
Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Awards for School Food Authorities (SFA)
As part of a cooperative agreement to develop and implement USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s (FNS) Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, Action for Healthy Kids is offering Recognition Awards to celebrate SFAs that have made significant improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals. The Recognition Awards will spotlight innovative practices, student and community engagement activities, and strategies schools have used to provide meals that are consistent with the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through June 30, 2025. Applicants will be notified of their results within two months of submission by email and the application status will also be posted on the portal.
Recognition Award Categories:
There are a total of eight Recognition Awards:
1. Breakfast Trailblazer Award
2. Small and/or Rural SFA Breakfast Trailblazer Award
3. Lunch Trailblazer Award
4. Small and/or Rural SFA Lunch Trailblazer Award
5. Innovative School Lunch Makeover Award
6. Innovation in the Cultural Diversity of School Meals Award
7. Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals Award
8. Innovation in Nutrition Education Award
Eligibility Criteria: SFAs must participate in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program in the contiguous United States, Hawaii, Alaska, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, or the United States Virgin Islands. Only SFAs are eligible to apply for the Recognition Awards.
Before completing an application, SFAs must obtain State agency confirmation that the SFA does not have any outstanding corrective actions and that any previous findings have been resolved. SFAs may Download a Fillable PDF Template for this purpose. State agencies do not need to review SFA applications prior to submission.
SFAs may apply for any of the awards at any point during the application period, but may only receive each award once.
Benefits: SFAs meeting Recognition Award criteria will receive national and local recognition, as well as an awardee toolkit that includes digital assets, and travel stipends to attend a national Healthy Meals Summit. FNS and Action for Healthy Kids will highlight and share diverse best practices nationwide from Recognition Awardees through traditional and social media, stakeholder engagement, training and technical assistance activities, and Healthy Meals Summits.
Informational Webinar: On September 21, 2023, from 3 – 4:00 pm EST, AFHK will host an informational webinar about the Recognition Awards. This webinar will provide an overview of the Recognition Awards including information about eligibility, the application process, technical assistance available, and more. Register for the webinar Register for the Webinar Here.
Questions about this announcement may be sent to awards@healthymealsincentives.org
Updates from the DPI School Nutrition Team
Fiscal Year End Claims Processing
Due to bank holidays and for the State to perform year-end wrap up and rollover into the new state fiscal year, the processing of claims is shut down. Be aware of the following information when filing claims for any Federal or State Child Nutrition Program. Claims submitted the afternoon of June 20, 2023, through July 10, 2023, will be processed on July 11, 2023 with an EFT deposit date of July 17, 2023. Only one claim per program may be entered during this time per agency, including adjustments. Only if your claim is close to the 60-calendar day cutoff, you may email a paper claim to: jacqueline.darrow@dpi.wi.gov.
DPI School Nutrition Team is Hiring Two Nutrition Program Consultants!
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction School Nutrition Team is recruiting for two Nutrition Program Consultants to join our team.
Information about the position and the application process are posted on Wisc.Jobs at https://wj.wi.gov/10934.
The deadline to apply is July 11. Please feel free to share with anyone who may be interested.
Deadline to Apply for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Extended
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction requested and was granted a waiver by USDA to extend the CEP election deadline for school year 2023-24 from June 30, 2023 to August 31, 2023. School food authorities that are interested in applying to participate in CEP will now have more time to make decisions and get the application completed.
More information on CEP including the application is located on the Community Eligibility Provision webpage.
Please direct questions regarding CEP to CEP@dpi.wi.gov.
Free and Reduced Updates for School Year (SY) 2023-24
The USDA Free and Reduced Price Meal Application, Public Release, and Notification Letters for school year (SY) 2023-24 are now available in English, Spanish, and Hmong on the Free and Reduced Meal Eligibility webpage. School food authorities (SFAs) are required to distribute free and reduced price meal application materials to all households on or around the beginning of the school year, but not before July 1.
Application Updates: Please note that USDA has updated the English and Spanish application forms and instructions for SY 2023-24. They are now fillable PDF forms that are more accessible to individuals utilizing adaptive technology. DPI recommends downloading the materials and adding your SFA’s information in Adobe Acrobat Reader rather than in the web browser. There is no longer a version with Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) language and one without, all applications now include CEP language. USDA has not released the updated materials in languages other than English and Spanish, so the Hmong materials available on the DPI website are updated for the new school year but remain in the old format. USDA is working on updating all other translated applications to include the same changes. Materials in languages other than English, Spanish, and Hmong are available on the USDA Translated Applications webpage.
Summer-EBT Language: Wisconsin is participating in the Summer-EBT program starting in Summer 2024. All students who are enrolled in a school that participates in the National School Lunch Program and are eligible for free or reduced price meal benefits in SY 2023-24 are eligible to receive these benefits. Households are required to have the ability to opt out of Summer EBT Program. To meet this requirement, additional language has been added to the notification letter templates to inform households how to opt out. The notification letters you provide to households must include this additional language. If your SFA uses a software system to generate letters, make sure it is included as software companies have been notified.
Carryover for Student Eligibility in SY 2023-24: Under Program regulations at 7 CFR 245.6(c)(2), eligibility from the preceding year must be used to determine eligibility for the first 30 operating days of the school year, or until a new eligibility determination is made in the current school year, whichever comes first. As a reminder, the carryover eligibility is in effect until a new meal eligibility determination is made either through the Free and Reduced Price Meal Application, Direct Certification (an N code is not a new determination), or other categorical eligibility. Once the 30 operating days are complete, if a new meal eligibility determination has not been made, the student’s meal eligibility is changed to paid. If your SFA utilizes software, it is important to ensure the carryover date is correctly indicated in your system. After the carryover period ends, SFAs are encouraged to review the benefit issuance list from your system to ensure all students have the correct eligibility.
Online Application Approval: If your SFA uses an online/web-based Free and Reduced Price Meal Application, the software vendor’s application must be approved by DPI before distributing it to households. The approved vendor listing is updated annually. The list of Approved Vendors for SY 2023-24 is now available and will continue to be updated during the coming months as more applications are approved. Please contact Tanya Kirtz or Tracy Huffman with questions about online application approval.
Direct Certification (DC): Best Practice is to run DC prior to distributing applications and notify eligible households to decrease the number of applications your SFA is required to process and verify. Please note, the DC system will be unavailable from July 1 until approximately July 10 due to system rollover. The SNT will notify you when DC is available for the 2023-24 school year via the School Meals News Bulletin. For additional information consult the DC Webpage which includes helpful resources including the DC User Guide, DC webcast, and access information.
Religious Exemption and Nondiscrimination Statement: Private SFAs electing the religious waiver for the nondiscrimination statement (NDS) may request free and reduced price meal materials utilizing the 2015 NDS for SY 2023-24 by contacting karrie.isaacson@dpi.wi.gov.
Free and Reduced Meal Eligibility Training and Resources: There are many resources to assist you with student meal eligibility determinations, including;
- The Free and Reduced Meal Eligibility webpage includes the free and reduced price meal applications, public release, Direct Certification, and categorical eligibility information.
- The Eligibility Manual for School Meals, is the main resource for everything you need to know about free and reduced eligibility, applications, sharing information, verification, etc.
- The Overview of Free, Reduced and Verification In a Nutshell for a summary of the process, due dates and helpful tips.
- A self-guided e-learning Free and Reduced Meal Eligibility series:
We also strongly encourage new staff completing this process or anyone needing a refresher to attend the in-person or virtual School Nutrition Summer Training courses in July and August. Advanced registration is required.
Calendar of Program Requirements: To help you manage all the program requirements, check out the updated Calendar of Program Requirements. We encourage you to utilize this resource to track important deadlines during the school year.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Jill K. Underly, PhD, State Superintendent
125 S Webster Street
Madison, WI 53703
(608) 266-3390 • (800) 441-4563