Free and Reduced Price Applications

Household Applications andVerification

School Year

2014-15

Revised July 2014

GuidanceEligibility Manual for School Meals

This manual containsinformation onFederal requirementsregarding thedetermination &verification ofeligibility for free &reduced price mealsin the National SchoolLunch & Breakfastprograms.

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The Eligibility Manual can be found on the USDAwebsite:http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/guidance/EliMan.pdf

The manual should be updated soon.Be watching!

Ways to Determine Eligibility

1. Direct Certification

–The process by which LEAs certify children who are members ofhouseholds receiving assistance under certain assistanceprograms.

2. Household Application

-This document determines if a child is eligible for school

meals at a reduced or no charge.

Direct Certification

Direct Certification…

Is the process of certifying children whoare members of households receivingassistance under the Assistance Programs(SNAP, KTAP, Medicaid, Foster) as eligiblefor free meals, without furtherapplication, based on informationprovided by the State/local agencyadministering these programs.

Why Directly Certify?

•At the beginning of each month, KDE/SCN provides theseDC lists via download :

–SNAP

–KTAP

–Medicaid

–Foster

•Fewer applications to process: You don’t have to sendapplications to households in which the students aredirectly certified.

•If 40% or more of the enrolled students at a site are directlycertified, the site is eligible to participate in the CEP.program.

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To request DC access, you must submit a User Registration Form to KDE/SCN

Request information from Lucinda.McIntosh@education.ky.gov

Access to DC files is limited to 2 peopleper district:

1. The food service director

2. A secondary user, designated by the food service director.

User IDs & Passwords should not

be shared with other users.

Notifying the Household of DCEligibility

- The LEA mustnotify the householdof free lunch eligibilityestablished throughDirect Certification.

- CEP sites do nothave to notify.

Notice of Direct Certification must state:

-The child is eligible for freebenefits

-No further application isnecessary

-An explanation of extendedeligibility & how to notify theLEA of any additional childrenin the household

-How to notify the LEA if they

do not want the benefits.

Medicaid Eligible Students

•Only students on theMedicaid DirectCertification list can beapproved for free meals.

•Not every child whoreceives Medicaid will beon the DC list.

•If a student is on theMedicaid DirectCertification list, eligibilityfor free meals extends toother students in thehousehold.

•You may not approvestudents based on aMedicaid case numberreported on a householdapplication.

Homeless, Migrant, Runaway

•Check with district coordinators/liaisons to identify these students.

•Appropriate documentation includes asigned, dated certified list.

•Students can be directly certified

for meals if they are documented

appropriately.

Record Keeping

•Maintain copies of theNotice of DirectCertification

•Print & keep the DClists from the DCwebsite

Helpful Hints:

1.Print each month’sDC download andplace in a binder bymonth.

2.Save each downloadby month to a file onyour desktop.

Application for School Meals

The Application Packet Contains:

•The Letter to Households

•Free and Reduced-PriceSchool Meals Application

•Instructions

Application Changes

•USDA revised the application for 2014-15

•The Income guidelines have changed

•Sponsor alterations to the application must beapproved in advance by Sue Bartenfield,SCN Program Manager.

•Electronic applications must also be approvedby Sue.

Ways to Determine Eligibility Based on anApplication:

•Income eligibility.

•Categorical eligibility with case numbers.

•“Other source” categorical eligibilitywithout case number.

Processing Applications

•Send application packets to households on/after July1st.

•Include the current IEGs (Income Eligibility Guidelines).

•You must determine eligibility, notify the household, &implement the status within 10 operating days ofreceiving the returned application.

•Last year’s eligibility can be carried forward for 30operating days or until a new eligibility

determination is made.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/governance/notices/iegs/iegs.htm

Civil Rights

The school mealsapplication is availablein foreign languagetranslations for thosewith limited Englishproficiency.

www.fns.usda.gov/cnd

Let’s look at the Application Part 1

Student/AdultName

Name ofSchoolor N/A

Helpful Hint: if box is marked,check DC list to see if thestudent can be directlycertified.

Must check ifperson receivesno income.

Betty Crocker

Holmes

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Dave Crocker

N/A

Determination based on Other SourceCategorical Eligibility without Case Numbers

•Homeless

•Runaway

•Migrant

•Foster Child

•Federal Head Start Program

•Even Start Program

(Eligibility for free meals under these programs

does not extend to other children in the household)

Foster Child

•Must be formally placed by the court and thestate will retain legal custody of the child

•May be identified by Direct Certification or on ahousehold application

•Is counted as a member of the household ifdetermining eligibility for other children in thehousehold

•The foster child’s income is only considered ifthe foster family applies for meal benefits for thenon-foster children in the household.

Let’s Look at the Application Parts 2 & 3

Case Numbers:

-Valid numbers are Social

Security numbers

-NO EBT card numbers

(16 digit numbers)

-NO 555 or 000

-NO Medical Card #s

Helpful Hint: Check DClist to directly certifystudent if possible.

Family membermust be listedunless no incomechecked.

List Gross income. Only convert to annual if multiplefrequencies are reported. Households must report incomefor the current month, the prior month or the month after.

In special situations, i.e. self-employed or seasonal workers,households may, with the assistance of the determiningofficial, report annual income.

Jane Smith

180 x

Determination Based on CategoricalEligibility with Case Numbers

If a child, or any household member, lists a validAssistance Program (SNAP, KTAP) case numberon the application, they are eligible for free meals.

Eligibility for free meals based on SNAP or KTAPextends to all children in the household.

Case Numbers

If a valid case number is used on an application, thecorresponding household member’s name must also belisted.

On applications which provide valid case numbers,

ignore reported income.

Let’s Look at the Application Parts 4 & 5

An adult member

of the household

must sign.

Must includelast

4 of social

(except foster,or whenlisting a validcase number)

or check “donot

Have” box.

Part 5 is optional.

The approval of an application cannot be delayed if thehousehold fails to provide any information that is notrequired.

For example, failure to include street address or phonenumber.

School Use Only

The “school useonly” section of theapplication shouldbe completed bythe determiningofficial.

Income Conversion: Yes or No?

If there is only one source of income,or if all incomes are received at thesame frequency, no incomeconversion is required.

For example:

John Smith $100/ weekSally Smith $200/ week

Combine & report total income as$300/ week

If there are multiple incomes withmore than one frequency, conversionis required. All of the incomes mustbe converted to annual income.

For example:

John Smith$100/ week

Sally Smith$200/ month

$100 x 52 weeks = $5,200/year

$200 x 12 months = $2,400/year

Total income: $7,600/year

The Conversion Factors:

•Weekly x 52

•Bi-weekly(received every twoweeks) x 26

•Semi-monthly (received twice permonth) x 24

•Monthly x 12

Do not use conversion factors such as4.33 to convert weekly income or 2.15to convert bi-weekly income tomonthly amounts.

Check your application softwareprogram to ensure that correctconversion factors are being used.You must be sure an “automaticconversion” to monthly income doesnot occur.