Dear County Superintendents of Schools:

Apportionment for School Food Best Practices Funds
Fiscal Year 2023–24

This apportionment, in the amount of $100 million, is made from the California General Funds to the California Department of Education (CDE) for awards to eligible local educational agencies (LEA) that registered their interest for School Food Best Practices (SFBP) Funds by May 15, 2023. The funding is authorized by the Budget Act of 2022, Section 133, Chapter 52, as codified by Assembly Bill 181, Education finance: education omnibus trailer bill. This legislation defined eligible LEA recipients as public school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools participating in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National School Lunch Program (NSLP) or School Breakfast Program (SBP).

Purpose of Funds

The purpose of the SFBP funds is to increase pupil access to, or improve the quality of, fresh and nutritious school meals. LEAs should consider how these funds can be used to support the implementation and continued efforts of the Universal Meals Program.

Allowable Expenditures

Accordingly, participating eligible LEAs may use SFBP funds to expend on implementing any of the following best practices for school meals:

• Procuring California-grown or produced, sustainably grown, whole or minimally processed foods,
  
  
• Using California-grown, whole or minimally processed foods in plant-based or restricted diet meals for pupils,
  
  
• Procuring plant-based or restricted diet meals, or
  
  
• Freshly preparing meals on site.
  

Funding Amounts

The amount awarded to each LEA is as follows:

• Base Funding: Each eligible LEA may request a noncompetitive, base funding level of $50,000.
  
  
• Meal-Service-Based Award: After the base funding is awarded, fifty percent of the remaining funds are allocated proportionately to LEAs based on the total number of eligible reimbursable meals served in October 2021 by the LEA. The NSLP, the SBP, and the Seamless Summer Option meals are included in this calculation.
  
  
• Eligibility-Based Award: Remaining funds are allocated proportionately based on the LEA’s total enrollment of pupils eligible for free or reduced-priced meals at all eligible sites within the LEA’s sponsorship.

The Program Cost Account is 25670. Amounts paid in this apportionment are listed on the CDE SFBP Funding Results web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r9/sfbp202324result.asp.

Procurement Guidelines

These funds are state General Fund monies. At minimum, LEAs must follow all applicable procurement processes and guidelines, which may include, but are not limited to:

• Conducting procurements in a manner that is compliant with your agency’s procurement procedures and that promotes full and open competition.
  
  
• Complying with your agency’s written standard (or code) of conduct that covers conflicts of interest, including organizational conflicts of interest, and that governs the performance of employees engaged in the selection, award, and administration of contracts and purchases.
  
  
• Maintaining records sufficient to detail the history of the procurement. These records will include, but are not limited to the following: rationale for the method of procurement, selection of contract type, contractor selection or rejection, and the basis for the contract price; and
  
  
• Maintaining all vendor invoices and receipts.

Reporting

LEAs are advised to retain all supporting documentation that demonstrates how these funds were expended.

As a condition of accepting these funds, LEAs must commit to completing a mandatory funding summary report. This report will gather details on how the funds were used to increase California-grown or produced, sustainably grown, or whole or minimally processed foods in school meals, which could include plant-based and restricted diets, as well as ongoing plans for sustaining these procurement practices. The CDE anticipates that this report will be submitted using an online template. The CDE will provide the link to the online reporting tool by May 2025, and the report will be due by June 30, 2025. Failure to complete the mandatory reporting requirements may result in a billing notice to recover the apportioned SFBP funds.

Project Period

The project period for the SFBP funds for LEAs is effective from the date of this apportionment notice to June 30, 2025.

Accounting

Warrants will be mailed to each county treasurer. For standardized account code structure coding, use:

• Resource Code 7033 for School Food Best Practices
  
  
• Revenue Object Code 8520 for Child Nutrition

County superintendents and LEAs were notified of this apportionment by email. Links to this letter and the accompanying apportionment schedule are posted on the CDE SFBP Funding Results web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r9/sfbp202324result.asp.

Questions and More Information

For more information on these funds, visit the CDE SFBP Funds web page at https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/rs/sfbpfunding.asp.

If you have any questions regarding SFBP funds, this apportionment, or the allocation amounts, please contact the Nutrition Services Division by email at SFBP@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Sarah Neville-Morgan, Deputy Superintendent
Opportunities for All Branch
KF:cy