June 18, 2019

School Nutrition Program (SNP) Special Bulletin

Click the links to jump to the relevant topics:

• 2019-20 Application for Educational Benefits Packet
• Adult Meal Pricing Requirements for SY 2019-20

2019-20 Application for Educational Benefits Packet

The SY 2019-20 Application for Educational Benefits packet for households to apply for free and reduced-price meals for school year (SY) 2019-20 is now available on the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) website. School food authorities (SFA) must provide application packets to all households prior to the start of SY 2019-20. The earliest date that application packets can be distributed is July 1, 2019.

SFAs that provide all school meals at no charge will need to distribute the alternate application for the school to receive compensatory revenue. Refer to the School Finance/MARSS Student Accounting page of the MDE website for further instructions about distributing alternate applications.

The 2019-20 Application for Educational Benefits packet includes:

• A letter to households explaining free or reduced-price school meals benefits.
• Instructions on how to complete the Application For Educational Benefits, which includes the updated household income guidelines. This page can be printed on the back side of the household letter.
• Application for Educational Benefits form (two pages). Both pages must be distributed. Both Word and PDF versions of the application packet are available on the MDE School Meal Applications page.

The format of the Application for Educational Benefits has been slightly revised based on program operators' input.

• SFAs that already have student racial/ethnic information on file may remove the civil rights section from the second page of the form.
• Households with earnings need to write in the total number of household members (Step 3C).
• The approval/denial section has moved to the front page of the application.
• Page 2 of the application lists more examples of types of income to report.

Other Documents to Include

The application packet can be used to include other documents that SFAs are required to distribute at the beginning of the school year, including:

• Promotional and Outreach materials for the School Breakfast Program.
• Minnesota Health Care Programs Flyer – Public SFAs are required to notify families about the availability of Minnesota Health Care Programs each year. The updated flyer from DHS, with 2019-20 income guidelines for health programs, is available on the MDE Student Meal Applications page. 
• Translations – Application packets in Hmong, Somali and Spanish are available at the bottom section of the MDE Student Meal Applications page. 

For other languages, translations of the USDA prototype application packet may be used. The USDA application packet is available in about 50 languages on the USDA website. 

Adult Meal Pricing Requirements for SY 2019-20

The required minimum meal prices for adults for SY 2019-20 will remain the same as SY 2018-19. The calculation is based on the previous year’s state and federal reimbursement rates, plus the national average per meal value of USDA Foods.

Minimum Adult Prices for School Year 2019-20:

• Breakfast: $1.80
• Lunch: $3.75