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Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) renewal for Fiscal Year 2025–26 (FY26) is open and applications are due Monday, September 1.
Application Reminders
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- Sponsors that submit applications past the September 1 deadline may not be approved in time to receive reimbursement for meals served during October 2025.
- All costs, including food, require prior approval before the cost is incurred. Sponsoring Organizations must submit their budget and get it approved before the start of the fiscal year, no later than September 30, 2025. It may take up to 30 days to process and approve a complete application.
- Independent Sponsors (sponsors with only one site) and Local Education Agencies (LEAs) do not need to submit a budget with annual renewal.
- Annual training is required prior to renewal approval. Use the CACFP FY26 Annual Training Checklist as a guide to complete training requirements. Depending on sponsor type, expect 3–5 courses assigned. Please plan accordingly. Some courses may take up to four hours to complete.
- Sponsors with a gap in CACFP operation of a year or longer must reapply to operate CACFP.
Note: The posted CACFP Renewal Bulletin for FY26 has been retracted and will be reposted soon.
For more information on the annual renewal requirements, Renewal Trainings, Renewal Instructions, Renewal checklist, and Budget Office Hours, refer to the resources below:
Questions? Contact your CACFP program specialist.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released the 2025–26 Cash-in-Lieu (CIL) rate at $0.305. This rate is effective for meals served July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026.
CACFP sponsors must certify completion of all training requirements when submitting the sponsor application in WINS during program renewal. For annual training requirements, Bright Track training access information and important reminders, please refer to the 7/14/25 C.A.R.E Update.
Please note, Fiscal Year (FY) 26 Brighton Trainings were delayed.
- The OSPI Annual Updates training became available July 23.
- The Spanish version will be released soon!
- Other required FY26 Bright Track trainings became available August 11.
- The Monthly Eligibility Training was posted in Bright Track August 15.
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Please take this short survey to let us know if you have new staff that have a Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) administrative role within your organization. |
These roles may include:
- Menu Planning
- Claim Submission
- Staff Training
- Monitoring & Program Oversight
- Recordkeeping
- Conducting Monthly Participant Eligibility Assessments (previously the Study Month)
- Ensuring Civil Rights Compliance
- Financial Management
Recognizing sponsors with new administrative staff allows us to provide supplementary technical assistance, support and training opportunities. Submit one survey for each new staff member.
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CACFP Sponsors are reimbursed based on a monthly claiming percentage calculated from the total number of children in attendance and their Free, Reduced-Price and Above Scale categorization. Claiming percentages are applied to the monthly total number of meals served, by type, and multiplied by USDA meal reimbursement rate. 7 CFR 226.11(c)(5)(ii). *At-Risk, Emergency Shelters and ECEAP/Head Start only programs are exempt from this requirement. |
In previous years, OSPI required sponsors to report free, reduced-price, and above scale claiming percentages for one month, the study month, which set the rate of reimbursement for the entire fiscal year.
In FY26, sponsors will be required to report free, reduced-price, and above scale claiming percentages every month for reimbursement based on actual participation.
Monthly Participant Eligibility Process
- Distribute the Sample Letter to Parents for Income Eligibility and the Enrollment and Income Eligibility Application (EIEA) to participants as they enroll.
- Collect completed EIEAs, determine each participant’s eligibility, and sign/date the form.
- Use the Participant Eligibility Roster (required form) to track:
- Name of participant
- Date enrolled
- Submission of an EIEA or Enrollment Form
- Eligibility dates (EIEA effective/expiration dates)
- Participant eligibility (free/reduced-price/above scale)
- Date participant disenrolled
- Participant eligibility for each month
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For-profit Institutions Only: for-profit eligibility for each month
- Use the Participant Eligibility Report (optional form) for monthly claims for each site to track:
- Participants in attendance during the month
- Eligibility dates (EIEA effective/expiration dates)
- Participant eligibility (free/reduced-price/above scale)
- Calculate monthly participation total (free/reduced-price/above scale)
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For-profit Institutions Only: Determine if for-profit eligibility is met. For-profit centers must have at least 25% free/reduced-price participants in attendance based on license capacity or total attendance, whichever is less. If eligibility is not met, a claim cannot be submitted for that site for the claim month.
* If another method is used to track monthly participant eligibility, the OSPI Participant Eligibility Report does not need to be used.
- Enter monthly participant eligibility totals into WINS for each site when entering the monthly claim.
- Keep documentation of monthly participant eligibility on file for three years plus the current fiscal year. This documentation does not need to be submitted to OSPI; however, a sample of this documentation will be requested when OSPI conducts an Administrative Review.
Reference
Resources
Child Care
Adult Care
Monthly Participant Eligibility Training was posted in Bright Track August 15.
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