Weekly School Nutrition Newsletter

Indiana Department of Education sent this bulletin at 05/30/2019 12:38 PM EDT

05/30/2019

Dear Food Service Contact,

This email provides news for schools concerning the Child Nutrition Programs from the USDA and the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). If you are the food service contact for your school or corporation, it is your responsibility to relay important information provided to you about the Child Nutrition Programs to other staff members.

Submitted and Accepted Corrective Action Reminder

Any time corrective action is found to be necessary during a site or sponsor review or follow up visit, it is to be fully implemented immediately or within a pre-approved time-frame.
Ongoing corrective action that is deemed acceptable is expected to remain in place indefinitely.
SFAs that choose to not follow the corrective action plan as outlined will have payments withheld until ongoing compliance is maintained.
Questions? Contact Marcia Yurczyk at myurczyk@doe.in.gov.

Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) Tool SY 2019-2020

The USDA PLE Tool for SY 2019 - 2020 is available.
Each SFA currently charging a weighted average price less than $3.00 for paid lunches will need to use the PLE Tool to determine the amount to increase their paid lunch prices for SY 2019-2020.
The PLE Tool is located on IDOE's Pricing Guidance Webpage under Paid Lunch Equity (PLE).

The webpage also includes step-by-step instructions for completing the tool.

You will be required to submit the completed tool as part of your renewal documents for SY 2019-2020, but you can email them to SCNFinance@doe.in.gov at any time.
Exemptions may be granted for the PLE requirement for schools that had a positive food service account balance as of December 31, 2018. See below for more information.
Questions? Contact the Finance Team at SCNFinance@doe.in.gov.

PLE Exemption Requests

Any SFA with a positive or zero balance in its non-profit school food service account as of December 31, 2018, may be granted an exemption by IDOE from the PLE Pricing Requirements.
The exemption only exempts the school from having to raise prices according to the results of the PLE Tool, it does not eliminate the requirement to complete the PLE Tool, as this will be used in future years’ calculations.
All sponsors must complete and submit a PLE Tool as part of the school year renewal process.
Complete the PLE Exemption form located on IDOE's Pricing Guidance Webpage and submit it along with proof of a positive or zero balance in your nonprofit school food service account as of December 31, 2018 to SCNFinance@doe.in.gov.

Sufficient documentation for the balance of the nonprofit school food service account would be a bank statement, accounting software report, or ledger print out showing the balance as of December 31, 2018.

Questions? Contact the Finance Team at SCNFinance@doe.in.gov.

Adult Meal Pricing

When planning pricing for next school year, schools need to ensure they are setting their adult meal price high enough so these meals are not supported by reimbursable meal revenue.
This is a topic covered during the Administrative Review, and CNPweb requires the correct price to be entered before your applications can be approved.
Adult meal prices can be based either off your highest student paid price OR the 2018-2019 free reimbursement rate, not the lowest student paid price.
Use these formulas to ensure your adult meal prices are compliant:

For Lunch: Use the student paid price plus the paid reimbursement plus .06 cents plus the value of commodities per meal.
- For example: $2.80 + .31 + .06 + .2325 = 3.4025 or $3.41
For Breakfast: Use the student paid price plus the paid reimbursement.
- For example: $1.95 + .31 = $2.26
If non-pricing or CEP for Lunch: Use the free reimbursement plus .06 cents plus the value of commodities per meal.
- For example: $3.31 + .06 + .2325 = $3.6025 or $3.61
If non-pricing or CEP for Breakfast: Use the free reimbursement plus .06 cents plus the value of commodities per meal.
- For example: $1.79 + .06+ .2325 = $2.0825 or $2.09

For more assistance, check out the Adult Meal Prices handout here.
Questions? Contact the Finance Team at SCNFinance@doe.in.gov.

Pricing Student Breakfast

While there are no specific regulations for the minimum amount to charge students for breakfast, schools should ensure they are covering the costs of providing breakfasts to students.
Breakfast costs usually include food, materials, labor wages (including benefits), and other costs.
For step by step instructions for determining breakfast prices, check out the Student Breakfast Prices handout here.
More information about pricing can be found on IDOE's Pricing Guidance Webpage.
Questions? Contact the Finance Team at SCNFinance@doe.in.gov.

Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) Breakfast Grant

FRAC is providing grants to eligible sponsors to increase breakfast participation by implementing breakfast in the classroom, “grab and go” breakfast, and/or second chance breakfast in one or more of their schools.
Schools can use funds for items such as equipment and supplies, staff support and training, marketing materials, and incentives for participation.
To apply for this grant, schools must agree to offer breakfast to all students at no charge.
Grants up to $8,000 can be awarded.
Grants are on a first come, first serve basis. Schools should submit their application by the end of June.
For more information about the grant, click here.
Questions? Contact Diane Girouard at dgirouard@frac.org.

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Please do not reply directly to this email. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this email, please contact Allie Caito-Sipe at acaito@doe.in.gov, call (317) 232-0849, or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20849, or contact Ashley Heller at aheller@doe.in.gov, call (317) 232-0544, or toll-free at 1-800-537-1142 ext. 20544.

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