Overview
School Nutrition Programs | Program Guidance | Forms | Resources | Nutrition Education
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regulations require that sponsors of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP) that collect and review free and reduced-price meal applications must conduct verification by November 15 of each year to confirm students’ eligibility for free and reduced-price school meals. Prior to conducting verification, refer to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Eligibility Manual for School Meals and complete the CSDE's training module, Verification Procedures for School Nutrition Programs.
Verification Guidance
- Calendar for Completing Verification (CSDE)
- Completing the Verification Collection Report (FNS 742) (CSDE)
- Important Points for Completing Verification (CSDE)
- Operational Memorandum No. 12-18: Verification Procedures; Rolling Verification; and Verification Collection Report – Due December 15, 2018
- Strategies to Improve Verification Response Rates (USDA)
- The Basics of Rolling Verification (USDA webinar)
- Verification Checklist (CSDE)
- Verification Toolkit (USDA)
- Verification Training (CSDE)
Types of Verification
Standard Sample Size verification is required if the district's non-response rate was 20 percent or more on the prior year’s FNS 742 Verification Summary Report. This type of verification is based on a random selection of three percent of all newly approved error-prone applications on file as of October 1. Error-prone applications are applications that list household income within $100 monthly or $1,200 annually of the USDA’s Income Eligibility Guidelines for that household size.
Alternate 1 verification may be selected if the district had a nonresponse rate of less than 20 percent on the prior year’s FNS 742 Verification Summary Report. This type of verification is based on a random selection of three percent of all newly approved applications on file as of October 1. The selected applications are not required to be error-prone.