The California Department of Education (CDE) issued Management Bulletin (MB) SNP-12-2025, Professional Standards in the School Nutrition Programs (SNP). This MB outlines additional flexibilities enacted by the federal final rule entitled Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020–2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (89 FR 31962) effective July 1, 2024, and included in Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations (7 CFR) Section 210.30. The MB is available on the CDE SNP MBs web page.
Final Rule Hiring Exception
The final rule permits the CDE to implement certain hiring flexibilities for SNP Directors in local educational agencies (LEAs) with an annual student enrollment of 2,500 or more; these LEAs may elect to hire applicants who have at least 10 years of SNP experience but do not hold a bachelor’s or an associate degree. Directors hired under this exception must have a high school diploma or have passed the Tests of General Educational Development, also referred to as the GED, located under the Code of Federal Regulations (7 CFR 210.30[b][1][iv][B]) web page
.
Resources
The U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains a Professional Standards Trainings and Tracker Tool (PSTTT) web page
that assists SNP professionals in meeting the requirements. This tool has recently been updated and replaces the previous Professional Standards Training Database (PSTD). The new PSTTT allows SNP professionals to search for, access, and track annually required training hours all on one site.
Additional Information
For more information, refer to CDE CA Requirements for Hiring a New Director web page, and the Professional Standards 001 - California Hiring Requirements for New School Nutrition Program Directors form available in the Child Nutrition and Information Payment System Download Forms section.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding this subject, contact the Professional Standards mailbox at ProfessionalStandards@cde.ca.gov.