The California Department of Education (CDE) has made available the following school-level data that LEAs certified in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) as part of their 2012–13 Fall 1 data submission. The certified data in this file reflect the unduplicated counts and percentages of students eligible for Free Meals under the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the unduplicated counts and percentages of students eligible for Free and Reduced Price Meals (FRPM) under the NSLP. The file shows these data for K–12 students and for students who are ages 5–17 who have a primary or short-term enrollment in the school on Fall Census Day (October 3, 2012).
Notes About the Data
As part of the CALPADS Fall 1 submission, LEAs certify an unduplicated count of students eligible for FRPM. This count includes:
- Students who are eligible for Free and Reduced Price Meals (FRPM) based on applying for the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), or who are determined to meet the same income eligibility criteria as the NSLP, through their local schools; and
- Students who are automatically eligible for free meals based on their foster, migrant, or homeless status, or because they were “directly certified” as being eligible for free meals based on their participation in California’s food stamp program.
It should be noted that schools on an NSLP provision 2 or 3 status are prohibited from collecting FRPM applications for individual students. The file identifies which schools have a provision 2 or 3 status, and for those schools, it includes the percentages only of students eligible for free lunches or Free and Reduced Price Meals (FRPM) based on:
- Their base year percentage derived from October 2012 claims data reported to the CDE’s Nutrition Services Division, or
- The base percentage certified in the Consolidated Application Reporting System (CARS) in 2011–12, whichever was higher.
Note: This file includes Non Public Schools (NPS) and some adult schools; these schools were not included in past FRPM files.
Data Purposes
The free and FRPM counts and percentages are used by a number of programs to determine funding or grant eligibility. Some of the programs are listed below with the specific data in the file that are used:
| Program | Column |
Field/Description | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title I | U |
October 2012 Percent (%) Eligible FRPM (Ages 5–17) | Used to determine funding allocation for county offices of education and direct funded charter schools. |
| Economic Impact Aid (EIA) | QR |
CALPADS October 2012 Enrollment (Ages 5–17); |
Used to determine EIA funding. |
| After School Education and Safety Program | U |
October 2012 Percent (%) Eligible FRPM (Ages 5–17) | Used to determine grant eligibility. |
| 21st Century Community Learning Centers Program | U |
October 2012 Percent (%) Eligible FRPM (Ages 5–17) | Used to determine grant eligibility. |
| E-Rate | P |
October 2012 Percent (%) Eligible FRPM (K–12) | Used to determine grant eligibility. |
| Charter School Facility Grant Program | P |
October 2012 Percent (%) Eligible FRPM (K–12) | Used to determine grant eligibility. |
| Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006 (Section 131 funds) | QTU |
CALPADS October 2012 Enrollment (Ages 5–17); |
Used to determine funding allocation for county offices of education and direct funded charter schools. |
School Level Data File
Refer to the main Student Poverty - FRPM Data Web page for the data file.
Questions Regarding National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Provision 2 or 3 Status
For questions regarding FRPM data for schools on NSLP Provision 2 or 3 status, please contact the Nutrition Services Division.
Email: nsddata@cde.ca.gov | Phone: 916-322-3965
When emailing: Please mention “Provision 2 or 3 status” or put an appropriate subject in the subject line, to ensure that your email gets directed appropriately.
