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Thank you for all your work to provide nutritious meals to the students of Washington! Because of your hard work and dedication, over 105.3 million meals have been provided to students so far this school year. We hope you have a wonderful, restful summer!
Reminders for the End of the Year
The Washington State legislature appropriated over 11 million in funds to support Child Nutrition Programs in WA during 2021–22. These funds support a variety of programs and grants. In January OSPI paid out approximately 7.1 million dollars of state copay funds.
All Public school districts, Charter schools and Tribal compact schools operating the NSLP or Seamless Summer Option (SSO) in SY 21–22 will be provided funds to support meal access and distribution. The remaining balance of approximately $3.4 million will be paid at the end of June 2022.
Payments will be calculated based on the total number of breakfast and lunch meals served for either NSLP or SSO, as reported on the April 2021 claim.
It is important for districts to have their April claim entered into WINS by June 15 at 5 pm PT to be eligible for these state funds.
Questions? Please email Hydie Kidd, Fiscal Supervisor.
SY 22–23 Meal Application Materials Available
The state prototype meal application materials for school year 2022–23 are available in English on the Meal Application and Verification Information webpage, under the Application Materials dropdown. These materials contain the updated 2022 nondiscrimination statement. We are awaiting translated materials from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). If your organization has already printed materials that include the previous nondiscrimination statement, you are not required to re-print documents.
Local education agencies (LEAs) may use the state prototype meal application materials or USDA meal application materials. LEAs may not produce their own materials or alter the state prototype materials (except to include their district nondiscrimination statement).
Please note: You must identify on the meal application materials where households should return completed meal applications. Each year USDA receives meal applications from households in Washington state as households are mailing them to the Civil Rights Complaint address in Alexandria, Virginia.
Additional Materials
Additional application materials are available in English on the Meal Application and Verification Information webpage, under the Application Materials dropdown
- Letter to Households—Choose the Letter to Household based on LEA type and program operations.
- Public School Districts
- Private Schools & Residential Child Care Institutions
- Non-Pricing Programs and Provision 2 Programs operating a base year
- Notice of Eligibility Determination Letters
- Combined Approval/Denial of Benefits
- Notice of Approval
- Notice of Denial
- Notice of Eligibility-Direct Certification
- Notice of Eligibility-Direct Certification Medicaid
LEAs may use the letters produced by their electronic systems. Ensure the letters meet all of the requirements outlined in the Eligibility Manual for School Meals.
Web-based and Scanned Meal Application Materials
There are no required changes to the meal application materials for school year 2022–23, pre-approval is not needed before using updated materials. A reference sheet is available highlighting the requirements for web-based and scanned meal applications. LEAs are responsible to ensure meal application materials meet all USDA requirements.
Limited English Proficiency
Limited English Proficiency Households LEAs must ensure students have access to school meals by meeting the language needs of your school district population. USDA translates application materials into 33 languages to help you meet this need. Child Nutrition Services will translate all state-prototype materials to Spanish and will post to the CNS webpage in the coming weeks.
Questions? Please contact your OSPI CNS School Meals Program specialist.
The Family Income Survey obtains poverty data when meal applications are not distributed. The Family Income Survey is updated for school year 2022–23 and is located on the CEP and Title 1, Part A webpage. The survey is translated into Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
Who’s required to distribute the Family Income Survey?
Local education agencies (LEAs) participating in Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) or Provision 2 for both NSLP and SBP must distribute the Family Income Survey to students who attend a CEP or Provision 2 School.
REMINDER: You do not need to collect Family Income Surveys from students that are Directly Certified, as you already have their information!
Why is it important to distribute?
When free and reduced-price meal applications are not collected, the Family Income Survey is used to collect important income data. This data helps determine and maintain funding levels for significant state funding programs, mainly the Learning Assistance Program (LAP).
Are there any resources that can help me with the Family Income Survey?
Yes! Below are some resources that you can use to help get surveys returned and processed.
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Sample Letter to Households templates are available to modify and use with the Family Income Survey. These letters explain to families why returning the survey is important.
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A Best Practices document for collecting and promoting the survey is available. It contains information about the importance of the Survey and ways to increase return rates.
- We also have a helpful Timeline Resource, which identifies the important tasks and milestones around distributing, collecting, and processing the Family Income Survey.
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We are finalizing the It's More Than the Family Income Survey toolkit. Resources coming soon include: email and robocall text, an editable flyer and social media graphic, as well as social media posts! Once available, these will be located on the CEP and Provision 2 webpage, under the Family Income Survey - Tools, Letter Templates, and Promotion Best Practices dropdown.
Important Reminder
The school food service account cannot be used to cover expenses related to printing, distributing, processing, or coding Family Income Surveys. Food service staff may be helpful in establishing a process in the district as they have experience processing meal applications. Should food service staff take on this task, staff time and expenses must be coded to an account other than food service.
Questions? Please contact your OSPI CNS School Meals Program specialist.
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) renewal closing date for the current program year is June 30, 2022.
Sponsors who do not renew their CACFP application by June 30, will not be eligible to operate CACFP the remainder of Fiscal Year (FY) 22 (July- September 2022).
Sponsors most affected by this change are those who plan to operate At Risk or Pre-school programs that start in August or September 2022 who have not operated CACFP this school year.
School Districts that do not renew their CACFP application by June 30 for their pre-school programs may decide to:
- Claim pre-school children on NSLP for SY 2022–23
OR
- Claim pre-school children on NSLP for August/September 2022, then renew their FY 23 CACFP application and claim preschool children on CACFP October 2022–June 2023.
If you plan to operate CACFP in the Summer or Fall and have not yet renewed your CACFP application, please contact your CACFP Specialist to start this process.
For more details on this and other changes in FY23, watch the “What’s New in CACFP” recorded webinar.
To support school nutrition, child care, and adult care professionals' efforts to connect children and adults with nutritious meals throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) established nationwide waivers and approved State-specific waivers to allow program flexibility for School Year 2021–22 (SY 21–22) and Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22).
Waiver requests were approved on a case-by-case basis and only for a limited duration of time. It is expected that School Meal Programs will return to normal operation upon waiver expiration.
Nationwide Waivers – All waivers expire on the last day of school or June 30, whichever comes first.
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Operation of the Seamless Summer Option (SSO) in SY 21–22
Waiver allows school food authorities to operate SSO when school is open during the school year, regardless of the site’s location, and claim all meals served at the higher, SFSP free rate.
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Normal Operation: The NSLP/SBP must be operated, a by-name meal count is required, and meals must be claimed according to a student’s approved eligibility status. Meals are reimbursed at the corresponding NSLP/SBP reimbursement rates. Reimbursement rates for SY 22–23 will be updated in July 2022.
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Specific Meal Pattern Flexibility
Waiver allows flexibility with age/grade groups, milk type and variety, the whole grain rich requirement, vegetable subgroups, and dietary specifications for sodium.
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Normal Operation: The NSLP/SBP meal pattern must be followed. Beginning in SY 22–23, the transitional meal pattern standards will be in effect. If you are unable to procure food to meet the meal pattern due to supply chain issues, keep documentation of the shortage and notify your specialist.
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Operational Flexibility Waivers Allowing “Grab’n’Go” Meal Distribution
A suite of waivers were released to allow for non-congregate meal service, bundling of multiple meals, meal delivery to children’s homes, and parent pick-up of meals.
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Normal Operation: Meals must be served to children onsite in a congregate meal service during school hours.
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Offer versus Serve Flexibility for Senior High Schools
Waiver allows the serve-only meal service style to be implemented for the 9-12 age/grade group.
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Normal Operation: Offer versus Serve must be implemented at lunch for the 9-12 age/grade group.
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Area Eligibility for Afterschool Programs
Waiver allows the NSLP Afterschool Snack Program and CACFP At-Risk Afterschool Care programs to operate at sites regardless of area eligibility.
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Normal Operation: Sites operating in School Year (SY) 22–23 must be area eligible to participate in the At-Risk program. Afterschool snack sites must claim snacks according to eligibility status if they are not area eligible.
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Local School Wellness Policy Triennial Assessment
Waiver allowed State Agency-approved Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to defer the triennial assessment of the Local School Wellness Policy until June 30, 2022.
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Normal Operation: LEAs must conduct an assessment of their Local School Wellness Policy every three years.
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On-Site Monitoring: Expires 30 days after the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE)–TBD
Waiver allows off-site monitoring (desk audits) in Child Nutrition Programs for both State agencies and local level operators.
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Normal Operation: Monitoring must be conducted onsite. A 60-day notice will be given before the PHE expires.
Resources to Return to Normal School Meal Program Operations
USDA has released resources and guidance to help sponsors transition to normal child nutrition operations on FNS’s webpage.
For details regarding other upcoming changes, please view the the SY 22-23 Program Operations & P-EBT Webinar. Please note: You will be required to create or log into your Moodle account to view this recording. This account is free for you to use.
Questions? Please contact your OSPI CNS School Meals Program specialist.
Important Updates for Public Schools Renewing Food Service Management Company (FSMC) Contracts
OSPI Child Nutrition Services (CNS) is no longer applying the 10% materiality cap for increases to fixed meal prices for public schools renewing FSMC contracts or bidding out food services for School Year (SY) 2022–23. The main purpose for having this in the FSMC contract template was to cap cumulative fixed price increases over the life of the contract. The cap no longer applies given the high inflationary rates we are experiencing.
Fixed price increases are limited to the percentage of change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers under the Food Away from Home category for the 12-month period ending March 2022. Increases greater than 6.9% are material and OSPI CNS may require the sponsor to go back out to bid.
OSPI CNS will continue reviewing and approving SY 2022–23 FSMC contracts.
Questions about food service contracting? Please email Jeff Booth or Brenda Merritt.
Join us for a Scratch Cooking Recipe Development Training following the WSNA Conference in Spokane on Wednesday, July 27!
At this half-day, free training, you’ll learn the basics of recipe standardization from how to find and analyze a starting recipe through taste testing and scaling to volume. Other useful scratch cooking topics such as planning for success, using local ingredients, and how to promote your new recipes will also be covered.
This training will be most useful for nutrition professionals responsible for scratch recipe development and menu planning. Location to be determined. This training will be repeated in three additional locations around the state in October. For additional information about this or other Team Nutrition Grant activities, email Erica Lamson.
Make plans to be in office!
September orders open Wednesday, August 3, and will close Wednesday, August 10, at 4 pm.
Surplus orders will open Thursday, August 11 at 1pm for groups 1 - 3, and 2 pm for all other groups. Surplus closes Friday, August 12, at 4 pm.
For more information on your group number, please review the SY 2022–23 Order and Delivery Schedule.
Ordering
- To place an order - log-in to CNP Web.
- Your Food Distribution Application must be completed (including certified and submitted) before you can place an order.
- Ordering Instructions
- Reminder:
- New Fees - Delivery Fee Schedule for SY2022–23 will be released in the coming weeks.
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New - Minimum 20 cases per warehouse (dry vs frozen).
- Due to increased labor and production cost, several processors issued price increases starting in the November order period. Please review the 10/11 W-Code Price Increase Article for more details.
The Ordering and Receiving webpage has multiple resources to assist you in placing your ordering including; instructions, order and distribution schedule.
Important Reminders
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Confirmation of USDA Foods If you’re scheduled to receive a USDA Foods Delivery, you should receive an appointment confirmation from the carrier. Please remember to reply to the carrier confirming receipt of appointment.
- Deliveries
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To update or change your delivery contact person, please complete the Delivery Updates Form.
- Standard USDA food deliveries are wrapped and stacked on pallets no higher than approximately five feet and left at your loading dock for you to remove.
- Carriers will drop pallets at dock or just inside the threshold of your facility if the entrance can accommodate. Any request for removal of product from the pallet or asking the driver to enter the facility will require additional cost and must be arranged in advance.
- If there are delivery discrepancies or damages, you may return those cases with the driver.
Questions? Please email the Food Distribution Office or call 360-725-6204.
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For the upcoming 22–23 school year, we are receiving reports that the following items will be delayed until at least November or have limited availability.
Categories of note, pasta and poultry are becoming our biggest challenge. USDA has yet to receive bids to manufacture pasta for the start of the school year and the impact of Avian Influenza has been substantial in limiting turkey production. Manufacturers have indicated they simply do not have the capacity to meet demand. We will do our best to provide updates as they become available.
Juice
100277 - Orange Juice
110651 - Orange Juice
Pasta/ Grain
110504 - Rotini
110520 - Penne Pasta
110501 - Macaroni
Turkey
110554 - Turkey Breast
100125 - Turkey Roast Raw
110910 - Turkey Deli Slice
110911 - Turkey Ham - (Will have for September but may be short in November)
Canned Fruit/ Vegetables
100362 - Refried Beans - (No ETA)
100327 - Tomato Paste
100330 - Salsa (Short for Eastern WA Only)
Questions? Please email the Food Distribution team.
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| June 15 |
Last day to submit April Claims in WINS for State-Copay funds |
| June 15 |
May Claims Due in WINS |
| June 19 |
Carryover Request Form Due |
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June 29
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April 60-day Claiming Deadline - if you haven't already, submit your claim |
| June 30 |
Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) renewal closing date (for schools planning to operate At-Risk or Pre-school programs that start in August or September 2022) |
| June 30 |
CEP Applications Due in WINS |
| August 8–9 |
SY 22–23 School Meal Programs In-Person Annual Training |
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