2025 Kitchen Infrastructure and Training and Retention and Recruitment Grant

Funding Description

The 2025 Kitchen Infrastructure and Training (KIT) Grant competitively awards funding to eligible school food authorities (SFA) to support initiatives for improving the quality of meals served through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP), which may include procurement of California-grown, whole or minimally processed food, food service staff training costs and salaries, and kitchen infrastructure upgrades. The Retention and Recruitment (R&R) Grant competitively awards funding to support the retention and recruitment of school food service workers.

Eligibility

Eligible Applicants	Local educational agencies
Required Eligibility Criteria	Local educational agencies (LEA) including school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools that are sponsors of the NSLP or SBP are eligible to receive funds.
Other Eligibility Considerations	Not applicable
Eligible Grade Level(s)	Not applicable
Eligible Age Level(s)	Not applicable

Funding

Legal Authority	Senate Bill (SB) 121 Section 79 (Committee on Budget. Education Finance Omnibus Budget Trailer Bill)
Source / Type	State / Grant
State Fiscal Year	2025-26
SACS Resource / Revenue Codes	7041, 7042 / 8520
Total Available	$155,000,000
Recipient Amount	See allocation formula
Match Requirement	No
Allocation Formula	The award amounts will be calculated based on the following formulas: 2025 KIT Funding Formula - Base funding: Each eligible SFA will receive a base funding level of $2,500. - Student enrollment funding: Each eligible SFA will receive at least $27 per enrolled student. Student enrollment number will be based on the enrollment number in the SFA's October 2025 claim in the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS). - Once the base funding and student enrollment funding are calculated, the California Department of Education (CDE) will multiply that amount by the score (in the form of a percentage) the SFA receives on their 2025 KIT Grant application. -The following grant funding caps will apply to the final amount based on student enrollment: - Enrollments of up to 60,000 students will be capped at $1.25 million. - Enrollments of up to 60,000 students will be capped at $1.25 million. - Enrollments of 60,001-100,000 students will be capped at $1.5 million. - Enrollments of 100,001 students and above will be capped at $2 million. Recruitment and Retention Funding Formula - Base funding: Each eligible SFA will receive a base funding level of $2,500 per impacted classified employee. Note: applicants must identify at least two classified employees (not to exceed three) to be eligible to receive funding. - School Year (SY) 2024-25 meal count funding: Each eligible SFA will receive at least $0.01 per meal served (Breakfast and Lunch). Meal count data for SY 2024-25 will be pulled from the claim data in the CNIPS. - Once the meal count funding is calculated, the CDE will multiply that amount by the score (in the form of a percentage) the SFA receives on their R&R Grant application.

Important Dates

Date Application Available	December 2, 2025
Due Date	January 30, 2026
Expected Notification Date	July 1, 2026

Additional Information

Application	Request for Applications [http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r9/kit25rfa.asp]
Background	2025 KIT Grant & Retention & Recruitment Grant  [http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/kit2025.asp]
Fiscal	Unavailable
Other	Unavailable

Contacts

Program	2025 KIT Team, KIT2025@cde.ca.gov
Fiscal	Nicole Morales, 916-445-4778, nmorales@cde.ca.gov
Division	Nutrition Services Division