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School Meals Program

April 2024

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Spring!

Trivia: Q. What tree is known as the tree of the month of April? A. (The answer is hidden in the content below)

USDA POLICY MEMOS

Regulation requires sponsoring organizations and institutions to keep Bulletins, Instructions, and USDA Policy Memorandums for reference and to apply immediately the appropriate instruction to agency programs.

Please call Child Nutrition Programs, if further clarification is needed.

NSLP & School Breakfast Program (SBP) Updates:

All Policy Memos from USDA are located here:

• SP 15-2024 Non-Congregate Meal Service in Rural Areas Questions and Answers (#2)
• SP 14-2024 Paid Lunch Equity: Guidance for School Year 2024-2025
• SP 13-2024 Non-Congregate Meal Service in Rural Areas Questions and Answers
• SP 06-2024 Rural Designations in the Summer Meal Programs - Revised
• SP 05-2024 Implementation Guidance for the Rural Non-congregate Option Provisions of the Interim Final Rule, Establishing the Summer EBT Program and Rural Non-Congregate Option in the Summer Meal
• SP 04-2024 Child Nutrition Program Integrity Final Rule: State Agency Discretion for Repeat Meal Pattern Violations Fiscal Action
• SP 03-2024 CN Integrity Rule Memo - Administrative Review (AR) and Food Service Management Company (FSMC) Cycles (azureedge.us) 

Updates & Reminders:

Community Eligibility Provision Worksheet for School Food Authorities

DEED staff are beginning to send School Food Service Directors and Business Managers the new Community Eligibility Provision Worksheet for School Food Authorities.  This new worksheet contains:

• LEA identified and enrolled student data (from the Alaska PrimeroEdge system as of 1 April 2024)
• Express and Advanced Financial Modeling tool
  • Express: Estimates the lunch and breakfast reimbursement rates (based on 2023-2024 rates) based on your site, group, or LEA's election preference
  • Advanced: A detailed estimate of meal reimbursement and sales based on historical meal service data
• SFA-substituted Identified Student data worksheet (form that is required if you wish to use IS data other than what is in AK PrimeroEdge)

REMINDER: The minimum Identified Student Percentage (ISP) required to elect CEP is now 25% (reduced from 40%): This means more schools and LEAs have the option to elect CEP for the 2024-2025 school year. CEP is a great way to expand no cost meal service in schools, reduce stigma associated with free and reduced-price school meals, and ensure children are energized and ready to engage in learning activities throughout the school day.

SFAs should carefully consider their election options as the CEP multiplier (that determines how many meals are claimed at the free versus the paid reimbursement rate) remains 1.6.  This means, a school, group of schools, or LEA electing at 25% will have a free claiming rate of 40%.  A 40% free claiming rate means that a school serving 1,000 meals will be reimbursed 400 at the free rate ($6.92 at the ≥60% rate) and 600  at the paid rate ($0.68) for a total reimbursement of $4,424 ($4.42/meal). 

A school, group of schools, or LEA with an ISP of 62.5% or greater may claim all meals at the free reimbursement rate.

Paid Lunch Equity (PLE)

SP 14-2024 Paid Lunch Equity: Guidance for School Year 2024-2025 was released the 20th of March.

Like previous years, DEED will pre-fill data from CNPweb and distribute the PLE worksheets and notifications. We expect to begin distribution in mid-April.

Claim Override Request

If any of these situations occur when preparing your claim, you must submit a Claim Override Request:

• Claim in excess of allowed meals in one eligibility: The number of meals in a single eligibility exceed the number of students multiplied by the number of operating days adjusted to the attendance factor and the site does not qualify for an Alternative Attendance Factor.
• Claim for zero meals: The school served no reimbursable meals but needs to submit a claim to provide enrollment data.  This should only be used if the school INTENDS to operate meals but did not due to a temporary situation such as staff shortage, strike, or other temporary issue.  

See instructions in the checklist tab of: CNP web 

"When we say school nutrition professionals are heroes, we mean it! That’s why we celebrate them every spring with the annual School Lunch Hero Day. Join schools across the country that are recognizing the difference these team members make for every child who comes through their cafeteria." Celebrate your heroes!

CNP Web Accounting Interface  We’re excited to announce the project for the interface between CNPWeb and our accounting system has been completed. This will streamline the claim approval process and decrease the turnaround time. When a payment is issued, sponsors will receive an automated email with a payment sheet attached. Unfortunately, the information currently provided on the sheet is vague. We’re working with the contractor on updating it so you can easily identify your payments. In the meantime, if you haven’t already done so, please register for Vendor Self Service (VSS) through the Department of Administration, which allows you to view your payments. If you have any questions, please contact our grants administrator Carole Baker at carole.baker@alaska.gov or 907-465-2860. The trivia answer is the Maple tree.

Resources The Guide to Professional Standards for School Nutrition Programs is a central resource that comprehensively outlines the required USDA Professional Standards for State and local school nutrition program professionals who manage and operate the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP).*  Also included is useful information regarding available trainings in the Professional Standards Training Database and tracking training using the Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool (PSTTT). The Professional Standards Training Tracker Tool (PSTTT) has a new look with graphic images of training statistics. Employee users can quickly view their progress to meet annual training requirements along with their Achievement Badges. The Child Nutrition (CN) Labeling Manual is now available online. The CN Labeling Manual provides food manufacturers with instructions on how to apply for and obtain approval for a Child Nutrition (CN) label. It also contains instructions for calculating the contribution that meats, meat alternates, poultry, and seafood products make toward the meal pattern requirements for Child Nutrition Programs (CNP). CN labels are approved by USDA and provide a way for a manufacturer to demonstrate how a processed food product contributes to the meal pattern requirements in CNP.

Two exciting new features have been added to the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs (FBG) Interactive Web-based Tool. Both features are available under the Tools menu on the toolbar: 

• Interactive flow chart on using the preparation yield walks users through when to use the Preparation Yield factor in the Recipe Analysis Workbook (RAW). 
• An Ounces to Pounds Calculator allows users to easily convert ounces to pounds and pounds to ounces to make converting units a breeze! 
  • New yields are now available in the Food Buying Guide for Child Nutrition Programs Interactive Web-based (FBG) Tool and FBG Mobile App! New yield data is available for: USDA Foods canned mixed fruit and canned beef, smoked salmon fillet, cactus fruit (prickly pear), purple rice, instant long grain brown rice, and quick cooking medium grain brown rice.  Stay tuned for additional yield data releases coming soon.

Explore the Food Buying Guide today! 

Culinary Institute of Child Nutrition: https://theicn.org/cicn/ This new section of trainings from ICN is great for districts that want to do more scratch cooking or have cooks who need additional culinary skills. iLearn – ICN E-learning (docebosaas.com).  Child Nutrition Sharing Site (CNSS) - recruiting new resources

Contact Us

Alaska Department of Education and Early Development
Division of Finance and Support Services
Child Nutrition Programs
P.O. Box 110500
Juneau, AK 99811

Disclaimer

This newsletter contains hyperlinks to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. These links are provided for the reader’s convenience. DEED does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of this outside information. Furthermore, the inclusion of links is not intended to reflect their importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered, on these sites, or the organizations sponsoring the sites.

Confidential Information

Confidential information should never be shared via email outside of the SFA’s email system.  Since email can easily be transmitted to the wrong recipient or intercepted by a third party, it could lead to a breach of confidential information.  When emailing Alaska Child Nutrition Programs, sponsors are encouraged to make arrangements with the recipient(s) to email documents with ZendTo (https://drop.state.ak.us/drop/).  Please contact DEED CNP for further information.

USDA Nondiscrimination Statement (English)

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632-9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

      1. mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil                    Rights 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20250-9410; or

      2. fax: (833) 256-1665 or (202) 690-7442; or

      3. email: program.intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.