Summer P-EBT Updates
A one-time summer benefit of $430 will be disbursed to existing P-EBT cards (or a new card if the student wasn’t previously eligible for P-EBT) for all students who were:
- Eligible for free or reduced-price meals via a 2020-21 Application for Educational Benefits submitted to the school before June 30, 2021 or included on a direct certification report from July 2020-June 2021.
- Enrolled in the last month of the 2020-21 school year in a school that participated in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) prior to the pandemic.
- Entered into the P-EBT portal by the last data catch up date of August 31, 2021.
The majority of summer benefits were sent to the Department of Human Services (DHS) with the June 30 data deadline. Students that met the above criteria and had data entered into the P-EBT portal before the June 30 data submission deadline will be sent summer P-EBT benefits with the July disbursement. There are two make up dates for corrections to data submitted to the P-EBT portal. Data must be uploaded or corrected by these dates for school year 2020-21 and summer phase 1 P-EBT benefits:
- Friday, July 30, at 4 p.m.
- Tuesday, August 31, at 4 p.m.
The following students are not eligible for summer P-EBT benefits and should not be entered into the P-EBT portal. Note that entering these students will not generate a benefit and may make it more difficult to determine whether all eligible student data at your school/district has successfully transferred to DHS.
- Newly enrolled students for the 2021-22 school year (including kindergarten students).
- Summer 2021 summer school students not enrolled in the last month of the 2020-21 school year.
What about students who were enrolled in the last month of the 2020-21 school year in a school that participated in the NSLP but didn’t become eligible for free or reduced-price meals until after July 1, 2020?
Minnesota P-EBT staff are waiting for clarification from USDA on the eligibility of these students and will communicate via the P-EBT bulletin as information is available. In the meantime:
- Ensure that the household is approved via the most recent 2021-22 Application for Educational Benefits and the application is date stamped as received by September 3, 2021. Do not enter these students into the P-EBT portal at this time.
- Do not enter students who are eligible for free meals via direct certification from the July 2021 or later files into the P-EBT portal at this time.
- Wait for additional guidance via the P-EBT bulletin.
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Changes to Card Distribution Preference
When updating a school distribution preference from parent to school, the change must be made manually in the P-EBT portal (versus a file upload). First, update the card distribution preference to school by clicking the arrow in the action column for each Food Service Program entry for the student (found under Student Associations). Then, delete the student’s address from Address Information under Student Details. The Minnesota Department of Education does not need the address of the school entered as it will be populated behind the scenes.
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Bulletin Frequency
There may be some weeks this summer where a P-EBT bulletin is not sent due to no updates to program information. Review the P-EBT bulletin archive to determine if a bulletin has been sent (updated within 2-3 days from when the bulletin is sent out).
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