P-EBT Program School Food Authority Updates

Introducing the 2021-22 School P-EBT Program

Summary

The email below tells you:

• what's different about the School P-EBT program for the 2021-22 school year
• what information schools will need to submit (at a high level) and how it will be submitted
• what the key dates are for information submission and benefit issuance

What can you do right now?

• Watch for a January 8 email providing access to the Student Information Portal that will be sent to you as your School Food Authority's point of contact.
• Designate someone else to have that access instead and contact us with that change. (More information below.)
• Encourage eligible families to complete applications for free or reduced price school meals as soon as possible.

Wisconsin's School P-EBT Program Changes

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) and the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), in partnership with the Department of Children and Families, have recently been approved to implement the School Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (School P-EBT) program for the 2021-22 school year. Working with you, representatives of Wisconsin’s School Food Authorities (SFAs), will be more important than ever as the program has changed significantly from prior years and now requires the reporting of student-level data.   

Unlike the 2020-21 school year in which benefits were provided based on school reports of how often students in each grade were learning from home each month, this year’s program will be based on individual student-level data. Additionally, during the 2021-22 school year, families whose children are enrolled to receive free or reduced price meals (FRPL) at a National School Lunch Program-participating school or whose children attend a school that participates in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) will be eligible to receive P-EBT benefits for:

• the days each of their children spent learning from home; AND
• the days which each child was absent for a COVID-related reason

These federally required changes in eligibility criteria mean that DHS must collect individual student-level learning and attendance information directly from SFAs. Benefits will be issued on a case-by-case basis to students who meet all of the specific program criteria as outlined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Benefits will be issued starting in early March 2022 based upon the information you provide.

Data Collection for P-EBT in the 2021-22 School Year

The information you will need to provide includes:

• whether/when each eligible school in your SFA had its operations impacted by COVID this school year (the five-day threshold rule);
• information about which students are enrolled to receive free or reduced price meals/CEP school enrollment (including information about students’ parent/guardian(s) and address); and
• how many days each of those students learned from home or was absent from school for a COVID-related reason in each month of the 2021-22 school year.

More detail about these required pieces of information will be provided in future communications.

To facilitate collection of this data, the secure online portal that was used for the School P-EBT program in the 2020-21 school year has been upgraded. This enhanced Student Information Portal has been designed to allow a designated individual (or individuals) from each SFA to provide student-level FRPL participation and attendance information electronically. The portal allows you to download a specific Excel template, fill it in with your SFA's student-level information, and then upload it back into the portal.

A short video walking you through how to use the portal will be made available.  It is strongly recommended that you view this video prior to uploading any student information as it will likely answer your questions. In the portal itself, there will also be comprehensive written instructions as to how to correctly upload student information. Finally, the P-EBT Support Team will be available to answer your questions via email.

Benefit Issuance Timeline

As previously mentioned, benefit issuances will start early in March 2022 and will occur every five weeks, each covering benefits for two or three months of the 2021-22 school year.  Student information must be entered into the portal by the cut-off dates listed in the table below.  On each portal cut-off date, access to the portal will be temporarily closed for information processing and benefit issuance. Access to the portal will re-open soon after each issuance. Once re-opened, you will be able to upload student attendance information for additional months, or for any students not included in a previous portal upload. (Note: detailed information on using the portal will be provided in future communications.)

We are hopeful that this schedule will give you ample opportunity to enter all necessary student information into the portal, allow DHS time to process this information, and offer families the ability to anticipate when benefits may arrive. 

Access to the Portal

As your SFA’s designated point of contact, access to the portal will be provided to you unless we are notified of an alternate.

If you are not the best person to receive portal access or to input the necessary school and student information into the portal on behalf of your SFA, please select an alternate. Please forward this email to that person and have them reach out to us at SchoolP-EBT@wi.gov so we can update our records accordingly and ensure they receive future reminders regarding requirements and deadlines. Note: If the person selected to submit your data is someone not currently working on the USDA Child Nutrition Programs for your SFA, we strongly recommend that an internal disclosure statement is signed by this person to ensure compliance with NSLP regulations.

Access to the P-EBT Student Information Portal and additional information about the School P-EBT program this year will be emailed to you (or your alternate) on January 8, 2022. The email’s subject line will be “Welcome: P-EBT Student Information Portal Log-In.”

Program Roll-out

We will be announcing the start of this program via a media release and will facilitate discussions on a stakeholder call hosted by DHS on Wednesday, December 15. We want you to be aware of this to prepare you for any questions you may start to receive from families of students. You can find information about how to join the stakeholder call on the DHS website.

Thank you for your help in supporting Wisconsin students and their families through the
School P-EBT program.

Wisconsin Department of Health Services

Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction

Please do not reply directly to this email message. Send any questions your school may have about P-EBT to SchoolPEBT@wi.gov. Thank you.