General Updates
After the Friday July 30, 2021, data deadline, there is one remaining deadline for schools to ensure that all student data intended to be transferred to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) for P-EBT benefits has successfully been sent. The last deadline is Tuesday August 31, 2021, at 4 pm. After this point in time, no further adjustments can be made to student data not sent to DHS for school year 2020-21 and summer P-EBT benefits. See the What’s New on the Website section below for more information about Summer P-EBT.
There are several features available in the P-EBT portal to assist users in verifying that all data has successfully been sent to DHS.
- Schools should run an export of the Student Extract from P-EBT table on the Summary and Export of Students tab in the P-EBT portal. In the Excel file generated, scroll to the far right of the file to locate the Benefit Transfer Status column. Refer to the P-EBT Bulletin May 20, 2021, for reasons why the data may not have transferred.
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See the What’s New in the P-EBT Portal section below for additional tools to assist in verifying that student data has been sent to DHS.
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What’s New on the Website
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What’s New in the P-EBT Portal
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Benefit Transfer Status Date. Users can now view the last time the Benefit Transfer Status has been updated in the portal. This date is especially important in the days immediately following a data deadline. It takes approximately 7-10 days for the data to be processed and sent to DHS after a deadline. Once this update occurs, the benefit transfer status date is updated. Refer to the Benefit Transfer Status Last Updated date on the home page. Once an August date is reflected, users will be able to confirm whether data changes made by the July 30, 2021, deadline were successfully sent to DHS.
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New Data Dashboard. The P-EBT portal homepage will soon display a new Data Entry Monitor dashboard with at-a-glance information about data errors that should be fixed. This feature is currently located under the More button on the top right of the navigation bar in the P-EBT portal, but will be moved to the homepage soon. Enter your reporting organization and click the Refresh button at the top of the dashboard to view the data. The following reports are displayed in the dashboard:
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Total number of students in the portal
- Students not sent to DHS
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Students that failed data transfer (total number and report showing individual student records)
- Batch errors created yesterday and today
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Students with no ID match found in Ed-Fi
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Click the link at the bottom of each report for an explanation of the data and information on how to correct the error.
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Summer P-EBT Updates
Refer to the P-EBT Bulletin July 16, 2021, and the new website document above for the most recent information about summer P-EBT.
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Changes to Guardian
When a student’s guardian needs to be updated for P-EBT, this change must be initiated by the school in the P-EBT portal. Parents are unable to update the guardian on file with DHS without school authorization via the P-EBT portal. Updating the guardian in the P-EBT portal authorizes the Department of Human Services (DHS) call center staff to speak to the new guardian listed.
If the student’s address also needs to be updated, the new guardian needs to complete the P-EBT Help Form to request a change of address and new card (if applicable). Once initial data has already been sent from the P-EBT portal to DHS, updating the address in the P-EBT portal does not refresh it for the third-party company that created the P-EBT card.
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Local Level Administrative Cost Reimbursement Grant
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Midwest Regional Office awarded funds to the Minnesota Department of Education for the purpose of reimbursing Minnesota schools and school districts for administrative costs incurred in the delivery of the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program. The school district will be a sub-recipient of these funds, which will be disbursed as a reimbursement of allowable costs.
All Minnesota schools and school districts were eligible to apply for reimbursement of costs which show clear allocation to the FY 2021 P-EBT Program. The period of performance for the local level P-EBT grants is October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021.
The application process ended on July 15, 2021, and funds will be awarded to 204 Minnesota schools and school districts totaling $608,830 for the period of October 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021. An additional $321,325 will be awarded if the P-EBT Program is approved for SY2021-22, for a total of $930,155. It is expected that all applicable funds will be disbursed by November 30, 2021.
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