National School Lunch Program
Paid Lunch Equity Tool and Guidance for School Year 2023-24
The Paid Lunch Equity (PLE) Tool and guidance for school year 2023-2024 is now available here.
Best Practices for Contracting with Food Service Management Companies
Find the full, signed USDA memo with links to regulations and infographics here: https://www.cn.nysed.gov/sites/cn/files/bpcontractingwithfsmcs.pdf.
Comments from the Listening Sessions for the CNP: Revision to Meal Patterns Proposed Rule
The New York State Education Department (SED), Office of Child Nutrition Program Administration hosted two listening sessions on March 9th and 16th of 2023 to hear from New York State school food professionals on the potential impact of the “Child Nutrition Programs: Revision to Meal Patterns Consistent with the 2020 Dietary Guideline for Americans” federal proposed rule.
Approved State-level Waiver Requests
The New York State Education Department has received State-level waiver authority from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to approve the following operational flexibilities that may be needed to provide meals to students required to learn virtually due to an unanticipated school closure during the remainder of the 2022-2023 school year.
Non-Congregate Meal Service
Upon approval from NYSED, allows students to consume meals outside of school settings.
Best Practices for NY School Meal Programs
The New York State Education Department (SED) Child Nutrition Program Office is embarking on a project to identify and collect best practices from School Food Authorities (SFAs) operating the school meal programs across our state. SED’s goal for this project is to develop new child nutrition tools and resources to assist SFAs in navigating challenges and enhancing their meal programs.
CEP Application and Guidance
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Application and Guidance is now available for the 2023-24 school year. This information can be found at: http://www.cn.nysed.gov/content/CEP.
Proposed Rule: Community Eligibility Provision – Increasing Options for Schools
USDA webinar found here: https://www.fns.usda.gov/cn/proposed-rule-cep-increasing-options-schools....
Second and Third Allocation of Supply Chain Assistance (SCA) Funding
Student Meal Prices and School Food Service Funds
From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has provided operational flexibilities and additional funding to School Food Authorities (SFAs) to help overcome challenges and ensure children have continued access to meals. As a result, many SFAs now have a substantial positive balance in their school food service accounts, some in excess of the maximum balance allowed by federal regulations. This memo provides guidance to SFAs on current flexibilities and acceptable uses of the school food service account funds.
**Updated**Free and Reduced-Price Policy Statement Collection
Original memo dated 10/03/2022. Recent updates will be noted by the asterisk (*).