Community Eligibility Provision Application

This management bulletin supersedes management bulletin SNP-06-2024. It provides information regarding the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and instructions to school food authorities (SFA) applying to participate in the CEP. Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 245.9(f)(4)(i) requires SFAs interested in applying for the CEP to submit required documentation to the California Department of Education (CDE) no later than June 30 of the prior school year.

Background

The CEP is a four-year alternative meal counting and collection procedure provision that allows schools to eliminate the administrative burden of school meal applications and still serve breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students. This reimbursement option is based solely on direct certification (DC) data. Residential child care institutions may not participate in the CEP.

Universal Meals Requirements

California Education Code (EC) Section 49564.3 requires public schools, county offices of education, and charter schools to adopt a federal universal meal provision at all high poverty schools under their jurisdiction that are considered eligible to operate in the CEP. Federal universal meal provisions include the CEP or Provision 2. California high poverty schools are those with an identified student percentage (ISP) of 40 percent or higher. The determination for this requirement is made at the site, not district, level.

Additionally, EC Section 49501.5 provides public schools, county offices of education, and charter schools with state meal reimbursement under the California Universal Meals Program (UMP). Failure to meet state and federal requirements and guidance may require the CDE to disallow state and/or federal meal reimbursement.

Benefits of the Community Eligibility Provision

The CEP is one of the federal provisions established to increase access to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) while decreasing the administrative burden on the SFA and families. This is done specifically through an alternative method for claiming student meals in high-poverty schools. The benefits of the CEP include:

• Reduces administrative costs and paperwork for the school

• Schools on the CEP do not collect and certify meal applications to determine meal eligibility or complete the annual NSLP verification process

• Meal lines move faster because staff do not have to categorize each meal served as free, reduced-price, or paid

• Maximizes federal reimbursements that support NSLP and SBP operations at school sites, which supports the intent of the UMP

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible to participate in the CEP, the SFA must:

• Have an ISP of at least 25 percent as of April 1 of the year prior to implementing the CEP, for a school or group of schools
• Serve free breakfast and lunch to all children in the participating schools
• Have a record of administering the NSLP or SBP in accordance with program regulations
• Count total lunches and total breakfasts served to students daily
• Not collect meal applications for free and reduced-price meals

Identified Student Percentage

The ISP is the percentage of students who qualify for a meal at no charge without completing meal applications, based on the enrollment of a school or group of schools as of April 1 of the school year prior to participation in the CEP. This percentage includes all students who are directly certified for meals at no cost based on their receiving CalFresh, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs), Medi-Cal free, or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations benefits, and all other students in the same household to whom program benefits are extended. Please note that students eligible through Medi-Cal may only be directly certified through the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). SFAs may not conduct a DC with Medi-Cal match with local county agencies. Students directly certified for reduced-price meals through Medi-Cal cannot be included in the ISP calculation (only those certified as Medi-Cal free can be included). The ISP also includes students certified as homeless, migrant, runaway, foster, or Head Start, and nonapplicants approved by local officials. These eligibility types do not extend to households.

To ensure that the SFA includes all students who are directly certified in the ISP calculation, those with access to the CALPADS can obtain a list of directly certified students in addition to obtaining a list of directly certified students from the local county contact. SFAs without access to the CALPADS must obtain a list of directly certified students from the local county contact. The CDE also recommends that SFAs obtain a list of students certified as homeless, migrant, runaway, or participating in a Head Start program. All student data must be current as of April 1 of the year prior to implementing the CEP. Each student may only be counted once regardless of if they appear on multiple lists.

County contact and additional information regarding DC is available on the CDE DC web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/directcert.asp.

Reimbursement

Claim reimbursement is based on the ISP and a multiplier factor established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). To determine the number of reimbursable meals at the free rate, SFAs must multiply the ISP by the multiplier, which is currently 1.6. The remaining meals served are reimbursed at the paid rate and no meals are reimbursed at the reduced-price rate. Under the UMP, the state will provide supplemental funding to eligible schools intended to cover the difference between the federal free meal reimbursement and paid reimbursement rate.

For example, a school or a group of schools with an ISP of 50 percent is reimbursed at the free rate for 80 percent of the breakfasts and lunches it served (50 percent x 1.6 = 80 percent); and the remaining 20 percent of meals served are reimbursed at the paid rate. Under the UMP, state funding will reimburse the percentage of the paid meals at the free rate of reimbursement. If the product of the calculation of meals to claim at the free reimbursement rate exceeds 100 percent, the free claiming percentage is capped at 100 percent.

Schools participating in the CEP maintain the same multiplier for the entire four-year cycle.

Group of Schools

An SFA is eligible to participate in the CEP for a school or a group of schools. For a group of schools, the ISP is calculated with the total of identified students for that group of schools. Only schools in the same SFA can be grouped together for purposes of determining eligibility. When participating by group(s), there must be at least two school sites per group and there is no maximum number of schools that can be in a group. However, each site can only be in one group. The group(s) should be identified as Group 1, Group 2, etc., on the CEP application. It is important to note if the SFA needs to change any of the schools participating in a group during the four-year cycle, they must implement a new group and a new four-year cycle using the application process below.

Situations Requiring a New Four-Year Cycle

If an SFA, group of schools, or individual school participating in the CEP experiences a change to the student population before the end of the four-year CEP cycle, the SFA, group of schools, or individual school may need to reapply to begin a new four-year cycle with a new ISP. ISP recalculations are not required mid-year for any changes in a student population; however, the ISP must be recalculated using April 1 data for the following school year. Below are some examples in which the ISP would need to be recalculated and the SFA would need to reapply:

• The attendance area changes for SFAs participating district-wide or for schools participating as individual sites.

• An individual school or group of schools (and the attending students) are added to or removed from a CEP group (this includes sites closing or merging), or a grade level is added or removed from a school in a CEP group, unless the students are moved or reorganized among schools within the CEP group.

The above scenarios are not inclusive of every situation in which an SFA would need to reapply for a new four-year cycle. SFAs should contact their School Nutrition Program (SNP) County Specialist if they have questions.

Application Process

Step 1

Upload all documents listed below into the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS) Attachments section of the Application Packet. These documents are located in the CNIPS Download Forms. To implement the CEP, the SFA must:

• Complete the CEP Application Checklist, Form SNP-71, to ensure a complete application packet is included. Upload the original Word version with electronic signature, or a signed scanned version with original signature.

• Complete Form SNP-19 to amend their original Free and Reduced-Price Meal Policy Statement on file. Upload the original Excel version (not a scanned version) with electronic signature on page 4, or upload the original Excel version and scanned signature page with original signature if you cannot electronically sign.

• Complete Form SNP-55 for the CDE to review the ISP calculation. Upload the original Excel version (not a scanned version) with electronic signature on page 1, or upload the original Excel version and scanned signature page with original signature if you cannot electronically sign.

Step 2

Upload all source documents used to determine the ISP into the CNIPS as attachments. Source documents may include CALPADS extract(s), local county direct certification list(s) containing CalFresh or CalWORKS data, foster list(s), homeless/runaway list(s), migrant list(s), and Head Start list(s). Refer to Form SNP-71 for details on where to locate these documents, and the correct formats in which they need to be uploaded.

Step 3

Send an email to CEP@cde.ca.gov once all forms and documents are uploaded. This will notify the CDE that you are applying for CEP and that your documents are ready for review. If all documentation above is not submitted in the appropriate format in a timely manner, the CDE has the discretion to deny the SFA participation in the CEP.

Maximizing Identified Student Percentage Increases

Public schools, county offices of education, and charter schools are required to conduct DC monthly through the CALPADS, even while participating in the CEP. Private schools and nonpublic schools participating in the CEP are required to conduct DC annually. The purpose of conducting DC is to determine if the group or site ISP has increased. This information will be reviewed during your SNP Administrative Review.

If an SFA determines that the ISP has increased in years two, three, or four of the CEP cycle, the SFA is encouraged to reapply for a new CEP cycle to secure the higher ISP and maximize federal funding for an additional four years. An SFA can reapply by submitting a new Form SNP-19, SNP-55, SNP-71, and all source documents and enrollment lists used to determine the ISP.

If reapplying for a new CEP cycle for any school that is part of a group, the ISP must be recalculated for all schools within the group.

Ending Participation

Participation in the CEP covers a period of four years. The SFA may stop participating at any time if the CDE has been notified. The SFA must submit a revised site application in the CNIPS for each site no longer participating in the CEP and updated meal count and collection procedures to the CDE. The SFA must also submit an updated Free and Reduced-Price Meal Policy Statement if the original one is no longer reflective of current operations.

If the SFA decides to end participation in the CEP between school years, schools will have time to notify families that they are returning to standard meal count and collection procedures and send out meal applications prior to the start of the next school year.

If the SFA decides to end participation midyear, a reasonable timeframe (at least 30 days) is required for the school to notify families and distribute, process, and certify meal applications.

Note that the UMP requires all high poverty schools to operate under a federal Provision. SFAs that are participating in the CEP to meet this requirement and choose to discontinue the CEP are still required to operate under a federal Provision such as Provision 2.

Grace Year

The CEP allows a school or a group of schools to participate in the CEP for an additional grace year. A school or a group of schools participating in the CEP that have an ISP lower than 25 percent, but equal to or greater than 15 percent as of April 1 in year four of the four-year cycle, are allowed to continue the CEP for a grace year. The grace year is outside of the four-year cycle and must be approved by the CDE. The USDA bases the reimbursement for schools in a grace year on the ISP as of April 1 in year four of the current four-year cycle. To apply for a grace year, please contact your SNP County Specialist.

Recordkeeping

The SFA must make available all documentation to support the unduplicated count of students and ISP calculation submitted with the initial application, ISP Change Request, or Grace Year Extension for review or audit while participating in the CEP. The SFA must retain proof of the DC data match (either monthly or annually, depending on school type). In addition, this documentation must be retained during the period that CEP is in effect, plus three fiscal years after the submission of the last claim for reimbursement of which the data was based. Further, if an audit finding has not been resolved, these records must be retained beyond the three-year period as long as required for the resolution of the issues raised by the audit. The records include, but are not limited to, enrollment data and reports documenting student eligibility for benefits.

Identified Student Percentage Documentation Review

When an SFA elects the CEP, the CDE must review documentation to evaluate whether the school, group of schools, or SFA meets the minimum ISP. The CDE will review a statistically valid sample of the identified students, from all sites that have or will establish a new CEP cycle. If the total number of enrolled students is less than 100, the CDE will review all identified students.

Results of the Identified Student Percentage Review

The CEP Guidance Manual states that when errors are found, the CDE must determine the correct ISP.

If an error rate under 10 percent is determined, the CDE will recalculate the ISP based upon the error rate. The validated ISP will be provided to the SFA upon completion of the review.

If an error rate over 10 percent is determined and the ISP is below 25 percent, the SFA must return to standard meal counting and collection procedures.

If an error rate over 10 percent is determined and the ISP is over 25 percent, the SFA will be required to provide documentation that accurately substantiates the ISP. If the CDE is unable to validate an ISP with an error rate of less than 10 percent, or the SFA is unable to produce source documentation to substantiate the ISP, the SFA must return to standard meal counting and collection procedures.

Additional Community Eligibility Provision Information

To learn more about the CEP, please visit the CDE CEP web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/cep.asp.

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact your SNP County Specialist. The SNP County Specialist list is available in the Download Forms section of the CNIPS, Form ID Caseload. You can also email SNPInfo@cde.ca.gov to be directed to your SNP Specialist.