Community Eligibility Option: A Great Opportunity

The Link Between Nutrition and Education Studies show that proper nutrition improves a child’s behavior, school performance, and overall cognitive development. When a child’s nutritional needs are met, the child is more attentive in class, and has better attendance and fewer disciplinary problems. Properly nourished children more actively participate in the education experience, which benefits them, their fellow students, and the entire school community.

The National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs The National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs meet the nutritional needs of children by providing nutritionally balanced meals that together contain more than half of the nutrients children need each day. USDA research indicates that children who participate in the National School Lunch Program have superior nutritional intakes compared to those who bring lunch from home or otherwise do not participate. Low-income children who eat school breakfast have better overall diet quality than those who eat breakfast elsewhere or skip breakfast.

History of the Community Eligibility Option (CEO) The Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 included the Community Eligibility Option (CEO) as a new option to allow high-poverty schools to serve all meals free and focus on feeding hungry children and improving meal quality rather than on collecting paperwork CEO is being phased in. It was implemented in: –Illinois, Kentucky, and Michigan in SY ; –DC, New York, Ohio, and West Virginia in SY ; and –Florida, Georgia, Maryland, and Massachusetts in SY –CEO will be available in all states in SY

How CEO Works High-poverty schools provide free breakfasts and lunches to all students without collecting applications. Any school can use this option when 40 percent or more of students are certified for free meals without application (called “Identified Students”). Schools are required to count the total number of lunches and breakfasts served but no longer will need to track meals by free, reduced-price, and paid categories.

Who Are “Identified Students”? Identified students include children who are directly certified (through data matching) for free meals because they live in households that participate in: –Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), –Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or –Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR). As well as children who are automatically eligible for free school meals without an application because of their status as: –being in foster care –enrolled in Head Start, –homeless, runaway, or migrant students.

How Schools Can Participate By individual school –Each school can apply to be an individual CEO site. By group/groups of schools –Groups of schools can be put together and a claiming percentage for each group will be determined. There is no limit to the number of groups. –Some schools can be individual and some can be in groups within the same school district. By District –All schools in the district are a part of one group. All sites will have the same claiming percentage.

Reimbursements % Identified Students x 1.6 = % meals reimbursed at “free” rate; the rest are reimbursed at “paid” rate Example: a school with 50 percent Identified Students would be reimbursed at the free rate for 80 percent of the breakfasts and lunches it served (50% x 1.6 = 80%) and the remaining 20 percent would be reimbursed at the paid rate Participating schools are guaranteed to receive the same reimbursement rate (or a higher one if the percentage of Identified Students increases) for 4 years

Meal Reimbursements with CEO

Our District Enrollment : [insert total for school, group of schools, or district] Identified Students: [insert % of identified students] Meals reimbursed at free rate: [insert percentage of meals that would be reimbursed at free rate under CEO] Meals reimbursed at paid rate: [insert percentage of meals that would be reimbursed at paid rate under CEO] Anticipated increase in participation: [insert any anticipated increase in participation due to serving universal free meals, typically 5-10%] Schools that would implement CEO: [insert list of schools eligible to implement CEO in your district]

Reimbursement Amount Using CEO vs. Current Reimbursement Revenue using current reimbursement: [insert total reimbursement revenue using traditional method] Revenue using CEO: [insert total reimbursement revenue using CEO] [Note any additional anticipated savings due to not collecting school meal applications, etc.]

The Impact of CEO From October 2010 to October 2011, in schools that implemented CEO in the school year in IL, KY and MI: [1] –Lunch participation increased from 72 to 78 percent –Breakfast participation increased from 48 to 57 percent Detroit Public Schools implemented CEO district-wide during the school year. Compared to the previous school year: [2] –Breakfast participation increased by 17.8 percent, or 5,526 additional students. –Lunch participation increased by 28.6 percent, or 10,229 additional students. [1] May 2012 Analysis by FRAC and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities from data provided by Illinois State Board of Education, Michigan Department of Education, and Kentucky Department of Education [2] FRAC School Breakfast: Making it Work in Large Districts

More Information About CEO FRAC Brief – Community Eligibility Helps Low-Income Students and Schools CBPP Blog - Community Eligibility Expands Reach of School Meals Program Link to FRAC, USDA and State Materials: