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Find the template to the application here: SNP Free & Reduced Price Information | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (nd.gov) The “Instructions on How to Apply for Free and Reduced-Price School Meals” looks different this year as USDA updated the language. This instruction sheet walks the household through the application step by step while the letter to households answers frequently asked questions. Print them both for inclusion with the Free/Reduced-Price application.
Reminders: A school district can print the new applications but cannot accept the application until July 1st. Once an application is submitted to the school, the household must be notified of the results within 10 days. Best practice for Free/Reduced lunch applications is to send a copy of the application and letter to households in a Back to School notification packet. Those packets sometimes seem like more paperwork than buying a house, but it is an efficient way for a school to cover all the program forms that need a signature.
The online application module in PrimeroEdge is also available for public schools to use. Schools who have implemented the online application have received more applications from households and it takes less work to manage the application process while making determination almost error free. This system is free for public schools to use in North Dakota. Contact our office if you are interested in trying the software.
Determining Farming or Business Income
This question comes in at least once every school year. This is the latest information from USDA.
Q: What line does a household use from Income tax for annual income?
A: Individuals who are self-employed or engaged in farming may experience variations in cash flow and cannot easily report a monthly income. IRS Schedule 1 Line 22 has the total amount of business income minus any losses. Use that number for farming or business income. Any negative number should be reported as “$0”. Wages cannot be offset by a business loss.
New Eligibility: Medicaid-Free and Medicaid-Reduced
North Dakota is one of the last states to be granted permission to use Medicaid information for determining eligibility for free or reduced-price meals. Finally, (and at last!) a Medicaid determination will be coming from the Department of Health and Human Services in the nightly upload of directly certified students.
Since Medicaid is income-based, you will note either ‘Free’ or ‘Reduced’ by the student name. Please be aware of this since in the past, all of the students on a directly certified list have been eligible for Free.
Also, since a household is classified at the free or reduced-price level, you cannot accept a Medicaid number on a paper application. The household will need to provide actual income for eligibility to be determined.
More information and examples of this new form of eligibility will be presented at the Back to School Workshops and during the September School Nutrition Program office hours.
Another Reminder: Updated Meal Charge Policies must be compliant with North Dakota legislation HB 1494. If your school needs to update the Meal Charge Policy, templates are available, please contact the ND School Board Association (NDSBA) or our office for a copy of the template.
The written meal charge policy must be sent to all households and be given to all school staff who deal with meal charging and administration every year. Simply posting the policy on the website is not considered compliant with the federal requirements for participation in the National School Lunch Program. Suggestions to cover this Households-hands on mandate include:
- Include a letter to households explaining the meal charge policy when sending “back-to-school” packets with student registration materials;
- Include the policy in the print versions of student handbooks, if provided to parents and guardians annually; and/or
- Include the written policy when using existing notification methods to inform families about applying for free or reduced-price meals, such as distributing household applications at the start of the school year
Meal pricing – Target price is $3.85 this year; up from $3.56 last year
Reimbursement Rates will be released in early July. Look for these on the NDDPI-CNFD website under the School Nutrition Program tab.
We hope Congress will give reimbursement rates a nice bump again this year, but the chances are slim to none with a $34.6 trillion debt to pay.
To help with the budget calculation, the current (SY 23-24) reimbursement rates are:
- Breakfast: $2.28 Free (Reduced and State 200 will also receive this reimbursement) and $0.38 for a Paid breakfast
- Lunch: $4.33 Free (includes the $.08 healthy meal incentive; also Reduced/State 200 and $0.48 for a Paid lunch
Other data that may influence the decision on next year’s meal pricing:
- A number of media outlets have had articles noting that USDA has calculated that the new meal pattern changes will add an additional 3 cent cost per meal, due to the addition of sugar limits, decrease in sodium limits and administrative costs. “The report also notes that there is no federal funding being used to implement the changes.” Updates to School Nutrition Standards will raise costs, Congressional Research Service report shows (foodservicedirector.com)
- The USDA Economic Research Service puts food price increase for the rest of 2024 at 2.2%. That documentation is here: USDA ERS - Summary Findings You should know the labor cost increase already from negotiations.
- Compare meal participation numbers from 2021-2022; 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 – are they trending up or down. Contact our office if you need an excel spreadsheet with your numbers.
PLE tool: The Paid Lunch Equity Tool is available for the SY24-25 student lunch price calculation. USDA has set a target price of $3.85 for that tool. The average price for a student lunch in North Dakota this past year was $3.08 so we have a long way to go to meet the target.
The Paid Lunch Equity tool has been required for completion since 2011, but schools are being given an exemption this year if the school foodservice fund has a balance of “$0” or is positive on June 30, 2023. The exemption will be requested during the renewal process for NSLP in ND Foods again.
If your school food service fund has a negative balance as of that date, you are required to fill out the Paid Lunch Equity Tool, otherwise it is optional. Completion of the PLE tool will show where the school should be at on pricing student lunch but it only requires an increase of $.10 for the coming year.
Contact our office (dpicnfd@nd.gov) if you need a copy of the 24-25 PLE Tool.
On Wednesday, April 24th, 2024, USDA released the long-awaited Final Rule for the new USDA Meal Guidelines. The good news is that all the new regulations will not need to be implemented until School Year 2025-26. Please stay tuned to our Newsletters, Trainings, and Webinars, as we plan to spend the school year 2024-25 training all the ND School Nutrition Professionals on how to implement the new guidelines.
Geographic Preference Expansion Related to the Final Rule
USDA published updates to the regulations for Geographic Preference in the Final Rule, which includes updates to language and defining scoring in the procurement process that CNP operators can use. For more information, CLICK HERE FOR GEOGRAPHIC PREFERENCE INFORMATION
Harvest of the Month Calendar for 24-25 SY
It's time to start planning your 24-25 menu, so take a look at the Harvest of the Month calendar. Take note that September 30-October 4th is 'Fresh from North Dakota Week'!
More information will be provided at the Back to School Workshops for all things Farm to School.
Our popular, monthly webinar, Kitchen Counter Conversations (KCC) will be taking a break during June and July. For the 24-25 SY, we will be switching to a new format (still on Microsoft Teams). This format will include a 'registration link', which will provide you, as the attendees the opportunity for it to automatically show up on your calendar. This registration link will be posted in our next newsletter and emailed out to help promote it.
As always, prior webinar recordings are posted on our website for viewing: UPDATES | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (nd.gov).
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Did you know that MyPlate replaced the Food Pyramid in 2011? MyPlate can be customized to fit your dietary needs, preferences, cultural traditions, and budget ― so you can enjoy your favorite recipes and eat the healthy foods you love. Want to learn more about MyPlate and how it can help you enjoy healthier eating? Watch this short video or head over to our new MyPlate campaign hub. Enjoy healthier eating. Update to MyPlate. |
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The CNFD Office hosts the Food Safety in Schools – 8-hour Initial Sanitation Course from ICN each summer, for new Lead Food Service Workers to assist them in fulfilling their 'Initial Sanitation Training' requirement. The requirement includes that within 30 calendar days of employment, they complete an 8 hour Sanitation Course.
- The New School Kitchen Manager training will be held from July 24 through July 25 this year, as a two-day event. This is in response to feedback and in order to provide a better understanding of USDA Child Nutrition & National School Lunch Program regulations.
We hope you join us for our 2024 Back to School Workshops! We are hosting the same information each day. An agenda is attached to the registration webpage.
If you have any questions please reach out to our office at dpicnfd@nd.gov.
Location & Date
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Registration Link
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July 30 - Fargo
DoubleTree by Hilton West Fargo Sanford Medical Center Area
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2024 Fargo BTSW July 30th (0162) Tickets, Tue, 30 Jul 2024 at 8:00 AM | Eventbrite |
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July 31 - Fargo
DoubleTree by Hilton West Fargo Sanford Medical Center Area
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2024 Fargo BTSW July 31st (0162) Tickets, Wed, 31 Jul 2024 at 8:00 AM | Eventbrite |
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August 6 - Bismarck
Ramada by Wyndham Bismarck
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2024 Bismarck BTSW August 6th (0163) Tickets, Tue, 6 Aug 2024 at 8:00 AM | Eventbrite |
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August 7 - Bismarck
Ramada by Wyndham Bismarck
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2024 Bismarck BTSW August 7th (0163) Tickets, Wed, 7 Aug 2024 at 8:00 AM | Eventbrite |
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August 8 - Minot
Grand Hotel
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2024 Minot BTSW August 8th (0164) Tickets, Thu, 8 Aug 2024 at 8:00 AM | Eventbrite |
We have seen some tremendous storms around the state this spring/summer, so please, if you have food leftover from the school year in freezers and/or coolers, spend a little time planning for the “What ifs” of a power outage. USDA’s FSIS is a wealth of knowledge and resources on this topic. A newly developed brochure identifies time and temperature for many food decisions and other helpful steps to prepare for an emergency. Find it here: A Consumer's Guide to Food Safety - Severe Stormes, Hurricanes, Power Outages (usda.gov)
You also received a 3”x 5” spiral bound booklet from ICN at last year’s Back to School workshop entitled “Emergency Response Pocket Guide” that has a checklist of to-do’s for power outage, flood and other water emergencies and response to a fire. If you cannot find a copy, please contact our office as we have a few left over.
One of the greatest technology advances for food safety is the wireless temperature monitor that sync to a phone app. These systems have come down in price and are well worth the peace of mind that they give a kitchen manager with a freezer full of food. In a google search of “wireless freezer thermometer” a number of sites show systems at under $100!
Most common challenge in Afterschool Snack program (ASP)
Not serving 2 meal components: Afterschool Snack is part of the National School Lunch Program, so most of the NSLP's requirements are also part of the ASP—developing a menu, using creditable food items, and filling out a production record that shows you served a meal that can be reimbursed.
Meal components are the same as NSLP: Meat, Grain, Milk but the Fruit and Vegetables are combined to make one produce component. The daily requirement for all the meal components is the SAME as a K-8 lunch – 1 oz meat/meat alternate, 1 oz grain, 8 ounces of milk and ¾ cup fruit/vegetable.
There is no Offer vs Serve in the Afterschool Snack Program. Students must take both of the menued meal components for their snack to be reimbursable.
The production record book for Afterschool snacks contains 2 pages of kid-approved afterschool snack ideas plus another page with a 4-week cycle menu of more choices to make a reimbursable snack. Please check the lists out and incorporate these ideas into the Afterschool Snack program at your school.
| Meal Component |
Required Serving Size |
| Milk (Skim or 1%; Flavored or Unflavored) |
1 cup (8 oz) |
| Meat or Meat Alternate |
1 ounce |
| Fruit or Vegetable or full-strength juice |
3/4 cup |
| Whole Grain Rich or Enriched/Fortified Grains or Breads |
Equivalent of 1 serving |
Held June 5-6th at the Hilton Garden Inn, Fargo, ND
WOW! Our speakers this year hit it out of the park! Joe Petit brought tears in his keynote, revealing personal experiences growing up in South Carolina and how important his ‘Lunch Lady’ was in making him who he is today. It is so important to greet your students with a smile as you have no idea what they are going through at home.
Tom Schwartz, representing the Chef Cyndi organization but formerly a USDA Produce inspector highlighted the importance of writing good specifications for the fruit and vegetables on a school food service bid. He shared his experiences inspecting train carloads of potatoes, pictures of anomalies on apples and tomatoes, and what to do if produce arrives at the kitchen door that doesn’t meet the bid specifications.
We were frustrated with trying to make a fruit parfait or a peanut butter sandwich with a recipe that didn’t have enough details included. Emily Karel, coordinator for the Team Nutrition Grant opened our eyes to how efficient (and actually fun) it is to produce the same items when the recipe instructions are clearly written. Several participants commented that they will spend the summer rewriting recipes!
The food show was PACKED! With vendors who were hoping that they could interest participants in a new food item for the menu or a piece of equipment that will take less room in the kitchen but produce better quality food in a shorter time. All the vendors put together fabulous displays. Most beneficial were the ideas to use one food item in multiple, delicious ways.
The NDSNA business meeting led by Gina Giovanni, President passed the gavel to Ivy Thorson as President for 2024-2025 with Alison Grabow, President Elect. Alison has been working hard to get the word out about the Facebook page for the North Dakota School Nutrition Association and set up the Annual Conference for next year. It was announced that the location will be in Bismarck with dates aligning with the ND Teachers conference in October 2025 rather than the usual June time. Sam Jonckowski was elected as Vice President to assume the President's chair in 2026.
Farm to School: There were many great questions about microgreens that Amanda Olson did not have time to answer during the Farm to School session. These questions were collected and written out for your reference. Please click HERE for more information on the details of serving microgreens safely in School Nutrition Programs.
We hope to see you at next year’s NDSNA annual conference in October 2025!
Not a member of the North Dakota School Nutrition Association? Membership forms are available here:
This link will also highlight the top 6 reasons for joining SNA.
State dues are $8.25 but must accompany membership in the national association. National membership fees vary with the position held in the school. A general school nutrition professional is $40 while a foodservice director is $143. Membership in both can be paid out of the school food service account.
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