Food Services Eligibility

Food Services Eligibility: WISEdata

Food service eligibility is an indicator of whether a student receives full-priced, reduced-priced, or free lunch under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) or has an Unknown eligibility status. For Food Services eligibility requirements, see the FAQ section below.

Food Services eligibility must be reported for all students, regardless of whether or not the school participates in the NSLP. Between differing application and DC determinants for free or reduced status, the better benefit always applies for the student.

All students in a CEP school should be reported as ‘Free’. Note that the small percentage of students in a CEP school who are not economically disadvantaged must be reported as not economically disadvantaged and still receiving ‘Free’ lunch.

Uses:

Food Services Eligibility codes are used for disaggregated reporting and accountability purposes, EDFacts, E-Rate, and certain child nutrition program purposes.

FAQs, Details, and Points to Note

Free Lunch Eligibility: Student is eligible for free lunch based on:
1. an approved application or Direct Certification under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). See income eligibility guidelines for free lunch.
2. documented status as a homeless, migrant, or runaway student who is enrolled in a school participating in the NSLP.
Reduced Price Lunch Eligibility: Student is eligible for reduced-price lunch based on approved application under the NSLP. See income eligibility guidelines for reduced-price lunch.
Medicaid-related Direct Certification Codes for Lunch Eligibility: The Bureau of School Nutrition can evaluate Direct Certification (DC) for Free and Reduced-Price School Meals using Medicaid data. School enrollment data is now matched with Medicaid programs that have the same income criteria as the NSLP.
Food Services Eligibility for Choice Schools: Choice schools, like public schools, are expected to report Economically Disadvantaged Status separate from Food Service Eligibility and report this information to WISEdata.
- Food Service (FS) Eligibility: Submitted as Free, Reduced, Full-price, or Unknown.
- Steps a Choice School may take to determine ED Status and FS Eligibility for WISEdata purposes:
  - Complete the Direct Certification process. All students identified by direct certification (DC) should be reported with True for ED Status and Free or Reduced for FS Eligibility.
  - For schools participating in the National School Lunch Program, the USDA household application may be gathered from families. Children in a household approved for free meals should be reported as Free for FS Eligibility, while households with an approval for reduced-price meals should be reported as Reduced for FS Eligibility.
  - Schools participating in the Community Eligibility Provision must still gather the economic information of all students every year. The alternate household income form may be used for students not returned by Direct Certification. This form is available in English, Spanish, and Hmong. A student identified as economically disadvantaged by this form should be reported as True for ED Status and Free for FS Eligibility.
  - Alternate measures of poverty may also be used. A student identified by such measures should be reported as True for ECD Status and Unknown for FS Eligibility.
  - Schools not participating in any state or federal food service program, or who are providing their own local food service program, should report Unknown for FS Eligibility.
    - NOTE: Choice schools must submit the corresponding economic status data element even if the school does not participate in government funded food service programs.
Changes in Status: Food Services Eligibility Status is determined as of a specific date. Codes provided should be based on the most accurate information available about the student's status. For example, a student may have an unknown value in one snapshot and a free or reduced value for the same school year.
CEP Schools: Economically disadvantaged and free and reduced lunch are two separate fields in WISEdata. A student qualifying with a value for one field does not guarantee the other is also true. A student whose family does not meet the NSLP eligibility criteria but is enrolled in a school participating in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) should still be reported Free (Food Services Eligibility) and No (Economically Disadvantaged Status).
Students not receiving school lunch: Reporting the lunch status of these students as Unknown. However, these students can be included in the Direct Certification process, but only if your school participates in the USDA National School Lunch Program regardless of participation in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). For students not on the direct certification list, you can use the USDA Free and Reduced-Price Meal Application eligibility determination. Including students with unknown status in the Direct Certification process can set their indicator to free or reduced, allowing them to qualify when the next school year starts.
Timing of NSLP Application Processing: The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires all schools to carry over free and reduced eligibility for school meals from the previous school year for 30 operating days beginning with the first day of the new school year. Schools do not have the option to establish a shorter carryover period. USDA requires the free and reduced-price status to be changed prior to the 30 operating day carryover only if:
- a new application has been received and processed;
- the child's eligibility is verified by a direct certification list;
- the child is verified as homeless, migrant or runaway;
- or it is the 31st operating day and none of the previous have been received, at which time the student's status would revert to Full Price. Food Services Eligibility codes for Free and Reduced Price in WISEdata count date records should reflect NSLP applications processed during the carryover period even if that period extends beyond the count date because these fall applications will generally provide more current evidence of a student's status on the count date than applications processed during the preceding school year. DPI wants the most accurate free/reduced eligibility information by the time the WISEdata collection closes. Thus, the exact date to provide the most accurate information within the current collection window will vary by district.
4K and PK Students: Every student in every grade in every school should be evaluated each year to find economically disadvantaged status. If you do not collect individual student meal eligibility information for these students, you can still obtain economic information using the Alternate Household Income form linked above.
Homeless, Migrant, and Runaway Status: The U.S. Department of Education (USDE) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) both assume that homeless, migrant, and runaway students are economically disadvantaged. Once a student is documented to be a homeless, migrant, or runaway student, free lunch eligibility is generally effective for the remainder of the school year. However, if a student moves from one district to another during the school term, the receiving district must have appropriate documentation to support the eligibility. If the sending district does not share documentation with the receiving district, the receiving district needs to document the student's status.
DOC or DHS: If a student receives services through the Department of Corrections or Department of Health Services, the student automatically qualifies as economically disadvantaged and eligible for free lunch.
NSLP-Verified Data: Approved NSLP applications or direct certification for individual students must be current to be used as the basis for Free or reduced Price values. Most schools collect the NSLP applications or verify direct certification annually. Also see information about grace periods below.
Alternative Provisions to NSLP-Verified Data: Schools participating in the NSLP under the Community Eligibility Provision are not subject to the annual application or Direct Certification requirements, so student/household level income data may not be available from these sources. In these cases, schools are expected to use codes based on the Alternate Household Income Form (refer to the Title I and Other Funding Programs section).
1. If a student is not covered by Food Service Eligibility or Direct Certification, but other evidence indicates that the student's household income is at or below the income eligibility guidelines for reduced-price meals under NSLP. Participation in need-based programs is acceptable evidence of economically disadvantaged status if need is based on a household income standard at or below the income eligibility guidelines for reduced-price lunch under NSLP.
2. CEP schools may use Free and Reduced codes for students if the relevant evidence is available at the student level (e.g., through the automated direct certification process). Student-level data about economically disadvantaged status is required to meet a wide range of disaggregated reporting mandates, which are, in turn, used to ensure that all students, especially economically disadvantaged students, are making progress. All schools, including schools participating in the NSLP under CEP, are covered by this requirement.
E-Rate: The E-Rate is a federal program funded from "universal service" assessments made on consumers' telephone bills, including telecommunication services, internet access, and internal network connections. The program is under the oversight of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and is managed by the Schools and Libraries Division (SLD). Wisconsin schools and libraries get about $42 million annually from this program in the form of 20 percent to 90 percent in discounts. Discounts are based on the number of students in poverty as a percentage of students enrolled. The higher the percentage, the higher the discount. DPI calculates percentages based on counts of students with Food Services Eligibility values of Free and Reduced and WISEdata count date enrollment. While schools can also use other available data to determine their E-Rate discount, DPI does not verify the SLD data using any other alternative mechanisms. Please visit the DPI E-Rate webpage for more information.
Uses by the School and Community Nutrition Team: The DPI School and Community Nutrition Team uses the numbers of students with Food Services Eligibility values of Free and Reduced and WISEdata count date enrollment
- to qualify eligible sites for participation in the Summer Food Service Program,
- to qualify eligible centers/sites for participation in the after-school snack component of the Child and Adult Care Food Program,
- to qualify eligible family day care home providers for higher rates of meal reimbursement under the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and
- to qualify eligible school buildings for participation in the after-school snack component of the National School Lunch Program.
- All the above are USDA child nutrition programs administered in WI by DPI.