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Monthly claims are due by the 15th of each month following the claim period. All claims entered in WINS and in "OK to Pay" status will process for payment at the end of the month.
WINS will be available to input claims until 5:00 pm PT, Saturday, October 15. At 5 pm, WINS will log sponsors out of the system in order to run the monthly payment process and will not be available until after noon on Monday, October 17.
Best Practice - Submit claims early in case an error comes up and you need assistance.
August Operating Days
- NSLP Claims with August Operating Dates will be in error status due to an error with the reduced-price copay. Please wait to submit the claim until Wednesday, October 12.
- If your LEA has less than 10 operating days in August, they may be included in your SY 22–23 site calendar and may be combined with the September claim for reimbursement.
- If your LEA has more than 10 operating days in August, they must be added to the SY 21–22 site calendar and a separate August claim for reimbursement must be filed.
General Claiming Reminders
- Monthly claim data must be in "OK to Pay" status by 5:00 pm PT on the 15th.
- WINS will automatically log all users out of the system on the 15th of each month at exactly 5pm PT.
- Give yourself enough time to input all claiming data, preview errors, correct errors. Completing these steps will help you ensure the claim is in “OK to Pay” status.
- At 5 pm, the claim function is closed. This means that the system does not allow access to claims until after the monthly reconciliation process is complete. This can take up to two business days.
- Didn't submit your claim by the 15th? That's okay! Submit your monthly claim by the 60-day deadline.
- Example: The September 60-day claim deadline is November 29, 2022.
- Claim reimbursements that are not entered into WINS or not in OK to pay status will NOT process for payment by the end of the month.
- The 22–23 Claim Processing Dates Information Sheet takes weekends and holidays into consideration for the 60-day deadlines. You may want to print or bookmark this information.
- Refer to the Claims Reference Sheet for details on what to do if you don't submit your claims by the 60-day claim deadline.
- Errors must be resolved for claims to be paid. WINS has multiple edit checks to help resolve issues before your claim is submitted.
- WINS edit checks the number of approved operating days for each site to the number of operating days entered in the site claim. If these numbers don’t match, the claim will go into error status.
- Review the Claiming Error Messages in WINS Information Sheet for more details on possible errors.
- Pro-Tip: Always select “Preview Errors” at the bottom of each site claim once information is entered.
Claiming Resources
Questions? Contact your OSPI CNS School Meals Program Specialist.
Children are eligible for free or reduced price meal benefits on the date their eligibility is determined. However, Local Education Agencies (LEAs) may request flexibility from the State Agency to move the effective date of eligibility to an earlier date under certain circumstances. This applies to both traditional household applications and direct certification. The Flexibility for Eligibility Effective Date options are outlined below. Local Education Agencies (LEAs) using this flexibility must do so consistently for all schools.
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Free and Reduced-Price Meal Applications: First day eligible for free/reduced price meals may be the date the application was dated as received or submitted to the food service department instead of the date the application was approved by the application approving official.
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Direct Certification (Basic Food, TANF, Foster, Medicaid): First day eligible for free meals may be the date that appears in the date eligible column on the direct certification list instead of the date the list was uploaded into the point of service meal counting system.
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Migrant, Homeless, ECEAP, and Head Start: First day eligible for free meals may be the date the list was received from respective program administrators instead of the date the list was processed into the point of service meal counting system.
Required Approval Process
Local Education Agencies (LEAs) must request written approval from OSPI Child Nutrition Services to implement a Flexibility for Eligibility Effective Date procedure. Please contact your Program Specialist and submit a written procedure with the following information:
- Identify the eligibility date that will be used for each type of meal eligibility determination (Free/Reduced-Price Meal Applications, Direct Certification, Migrant, Homeless, ECEAP and Head Start).
- The process to document the date meal applications were received. We strongly encourage use of a date stamping system.
- The process to track the date lists were received from the homeless liaison, migrant coordinator, ECEAP, and Head Start Program Administrators as well as the direct certification list from the Education Data System (EDS).
- The process to retain the source document; direct certification list printed from the EDS, homeless list, migrant list, ECEAP and Head Start lists as well as meal applications.
- The process for tracking and paying refunds for money paid by the household for reimbursable meals prior to the eligibility determination. Adequate records must be kept.
- A statement that any accrued debts will be forgiven.
Resources
Questions? Contact your OSPI CNS School Meals Program Specialist.
Round 1 of USDA Supply Chain Assistance (SCA) funds were released with September Apportionment payments. You can view the amount your district received in your WINS Accounts Tab, under Payment Summary. Make sure and select September 2022.
USDA has announced additional rounds of SCA funding. We anticipate the second round of funds to be released January 2023, and a third round of funding in February 2023.
Bulletins B029-22 and B051-22 provide additional details on round 1 and 2 of Supply Chain Assistance Funds. CNS will be hosting an upcoming webinar on supply chain assistance funds best practices. Please keep an eye out in future newsletters for details!
As a reminder, SCA funds must be used to purchase domestic, unprocessed, or minimally processed food products for the school meal programs. Labor, supplies, equipment, and administrative expenses are not allowable uses of the funds. Local Education Agencies may opt to decline funds by emailing Hydie Kidd, Fiscal Supervisor.
Questions? Please email the School Meals team inbox.
October 1-31: National Farm to School Month
Celebrate by offering farm to school activities at least once or all month long! Some ideas include: taste tests, nutrition education, farm visits, and garden harvest parties!
Serving local food items as part of your menu is another great way to celebrate! More ideas and specific resources are found on National Farm to School Network’s website.
OSPI and USDA support the use of Farm to School activities in your program. In fact, they’re considered a best practice!
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October 10–14, 2022: National School Lunch Week
The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) serves nearly 30 million children every school day in cafeterias, classrooms, and when necessary, even at home! National School Lunch Week highlights the importance of school lunch as well as the critical role school nutrition professionals play in helping children succeed.
This year’s theme is Peace, Love, & School Lunch
How to participate?
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Join the USDA Meal Talk: Taste-Test Events Webinar on Wednesday, October 12! During this webinar, speakers will share tools, tips, strategies, success stories, and best practices related to hosting taste-test events with elementary and secondary school students. Attendees will hear about new ideas and tools for conducting taste-test events as well as strategies for incorporating taste-test results into menu planning. Register for the USDA Meal Talk: Taste-Test Events Webinar | Date: Wednesday, October 12 | Time: Noon–1pm PT
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Deck out your cafeteria with NSLW posters and other artwork portraying nutritious lunch foods. This is a great opportunity to make use of the annual theme to highlight lunchtime favorites.
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Share your upcoming celebration on social media! Download the official #NSLW22 social media graphics to start promoting.
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Get in touch with local personalities! Invite teachers, administrators or even your school principal to stand in as guest servers for lunch one day.
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Offer a tasting of new menu items and talk to students about the nutritious benefits they get from certain foods.
Visit the NSLW22 webpage for additional tools and resources!
Share Your Celebration with the School Nutrition Association!
We Want to Celebrate YOU!
Send pictures and stories of your Farm to School Month celebrations to the School Meals Team inbox!
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Private schools and residential child care institutions (RCCIs) participating in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Child Nutrition Programs are required to complete and submit a Child Nutrition Financial Report (CNFR) annually. This includes sponsors that participate in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, and Special Milk Program.
The CNFR reports the net resources for state fiscal year ending 2021 (July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022). The report is filed in Washington Integrated Nutrition System (WINS) and is due by December 31, 2022.
Local Education Agencies who do not submit their CNFR in WINS by December 31 will receive a claim error when submitting claims after this date. Claims will remain in error status until the CNFR is in submitted status.
Resources
Questions? Please contact your program specialist.
Child nutrition sponsors with Food Service Management Companies (FSMC) and those with inter-district agreements are required to complete and submit a Financial Information Report (Form 1505) annually.
The financial information gathered in Form 1505 is used to complete the 1800 Report. The 1800 Report is a compilation of reports and statistics for public schools to evaluate the performance of their food service operations.
Form 1505 records the distribution of FSMC expenditures for school fiscal year ending August 31, 2022.
Submit your 1505 report to Hydie Kidd by December 31, 2022.
Preparation for applying for grant projects takes time. We wanted to share some upcoming opportunities so you can start planning for your projects now.
Child Nutrition Services will have the following grants available in the coming months. These grants will be available in the OSPI iGrants system.
- Breakfast Meals for Kids Grant (planned release date: November 2022)
- A state funded grant to start or expand the School Breakfast Program.
- Applicants must be a public school district, charter school or tribal compact school and have an approved application or be in the approval process to operate the USDA School Breakfast Program. This grant may also be utilized to purchase or renew a license for nutrient analysis software used to support the School Breakfast Program.
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Grant Criteria- Start or expand the School Breakfast Program
- Grant funds must be utilized by June 30, 2023.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture Equipment Assistance Grant (planned release date: January 2023)
- A federally-funded grant for equipment that costs $1,000 or more per unit.
- Applicants must be a public or private school, charter school, tribal or tribal compact school, or a residential child care institution and have an approved application to operate the USDA National School Lunch Program.
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Grant Criteria- Purchase equipment to serve healthier school meals, improve food safety, and help support the establishment, maintenance, or expansion of the School Breakfast Program.
- This grant has a 2-year project period and is suited for complex projects and long lead times for equipment. Grant funds must be utilized by September 30, 2024.
Note: For both grants, construction costs are not an allowable cost and must be paid for by the Local Education Agency.
Getting Ready to Apply
- Collaborate with stakeholders to ensure your project meets the needs of your students.
- Ensure to work with administration so you can get proper approvals for your project.
- Start gathering complete specifications for the equipment needed and estimate the complete cost for the grant application. You’ll need the following:
- Three quotes from potential suppliers
- Tax, shipping/freight
- Cost of installation
- Review the CNS Grant Writing Tips and Tricks Reference Sheet for important reminders and considerations.
Questions? Please email the CNS Grants team inbox.
Upcoming Scratch Cooking Recipe Development Trainings
At this free, half-day 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 determining crediting information, using local ingredients, and how to promote your new recipes will also be covered.
Register Today!
This training will be most useful for nutrition professionals responsible for scratch recipe development and menu planning.
Each participant must register for the event using their own pdEnroller account.
Funding for this training is provided by a USDA Team Nutrition Grant. For additional information about this or other Team Nutrition Grant activities email Erica Lamson, Team Nutrition Grant Coordinator.
Since 2010, Vermont FEED has hosted the Northeast Farm to School Institute, a unique year-long professional learning opportunity for school, district, and early childhood teams to build robust, sustainable farm to school programs.
The FTS Institute builds capacity in school communities to create a culture of wellness while improving educational, environmental, and community outcomes, and it is rapidly becoming a national model. Cross-sector teams come together in a summer intensive to build relationships, skills, and a farm to school action plan, then spend the school year implementing their plans with the support of an experienced coach.
Join an Informational Meeting
Discover more about this impactful training model, the evidence base behind its design, the key components of farm to school sustainability, and how the FTS Institute is being adapted across the country, with support.
Register for the Driving Sustainable Farm to School Initiatives Through the Farm to School Institute Model webinar
Date: Tuesday, October 11
Time: 10–11 am PT
More Details
In partnership with USDA FNS, VT FEED initiated a longitudinal evaluation to understand key components to farm to school staying power and how the Institute model creates a foundation for sustainability. Other states and communities have been learning from this model and implementing their own FTS Institutes to spread and scale more robust farm to school programming.
Register now to attend free, live, interactive training sessions for child nutrition professionals offered by the Institute of Child Nutrition (ICN). These virtual training sessions feature individual lessons led by ICN's expert trainers on important topics for child nutrition professionals in school nutrition programs.
Trainings will be held in October–December 2022. Some trainings include:
- Basic Culinary Math
- Training Culturally Diverse Groups
- Financial Management
- Food Allergies for School Nutrition Managers and Staff
- Food Production & Operations Management
- Food Safety
- Key Performance Indicators
- Nutrition 101
- Procurement and Inventory Management
- Reimbursable School Meals
- Special Dietary Needs
- Workplace Safety & Emergency Preparedness
For a list of trainings as well as training dates and times, please visit ICN’s VILT Registration page.
Registration is limited to 25 participants per session, and training sessions will fill up quickly.
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October orders opened Wednesday, October 5, and will close Wednesday, October 12, at 4 pm.
Surplus orders will open Thursday, October 13 at 1pm for groups 1 - 3, and 2 pm for all other groups. Surplus closes Friday, October 14, 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
- Review the messages on the CNP Web message board for a current list of product availability and shortages
- New Fees - Delivery Fee Schedule for SY 2022–23
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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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