Eligibility

• Traditional and Mixed Districts- Stay in Training Room with Katie• Full CEP- Conference Room with Cindy McIntosh• RCCI’s- Valerie’s Office with Ali McCreary

LunchBe back by 1:15

The Household Meal Application Process

For the National School Lunch and School Breakfast ProgramsSchool Year 2015-2016

Objectives

• By the end of this presentation, you will be able to:• Understand the Household Meal Application Process;• Understand the Household Meal Application Approval Process;• Understand how to determine your sample size for the Verification Process;

and• Understand the purpose of the Verification Process.

Getting Started

Traditional Districts• You may begin collecting and processing

application as of July 1st for the upcoming school year.

• Be sure to run July DC in the POS. • Information letters to parents and

applications can be sent home to all families.

• Cannot mandate that the application be returned.

• Direct Certification letters can be sent after July 1st.

Mixed Districts• Follow all traditional procedures.• You are NOT required to mail DC

letters home to DC students in CEP schools.• HIF forms will be collected

through FRAM.

New Application: Let’s Take A Look

Enter all children in the household, if they are a student, and if they are foster,Homeless, migrant, runaway.

Case number (best practice is to check andsee if student can be directly certified)

A. Insert ALL child incomeB. Insert ALL Adult income (if left blank, it is a positive indication of NO INCOME)

Enter total number of household members.Last four of SSN or checked for No SSN

Signer and contact information

New Application: Let’s Take a Look

Optional Information

Internal Use Only Form

Practice Time

How to Determine Eligibility

• To establish that a household meets income eligibility requirements for benefits, determining officials must compare the household income to the applicable Income Eligibility Guidelines. • Use the Eligibility Manual for

specific questions and guidance.

Processing Applications

• To be considered complete an application must contain the required information. • The determining official must

contact the household to complete the application.

• For an application to be considered complete it must contain:• Name of all household members• Amount, source, and frequency of

current income for each member• Signature of an Adult household

member• Last four digits of SSN or an

indication that there is no SSN

Processing Applications: Time FrameApplications must be reviewed in a timely manner.A determination, notification and implementation must occur within 10 operating days of the receipt of the application.

• You cannot delay the approval of an application if the household fails to provide any optional information.

Independent Review of Applications

• In certain situations, a district may be asked to complete an “Independent Review of Applications”• This process involves a second party reviewing the application prior to

initial determination. The application would then have two signatures to verify that this process has been completed.• You will be notified by SCN if you are selected for this.• It is always a best practice to second party applications even without

official selection.

Processing Applications: Income

Income Received at the Same Intervals• If there is only one source of

income, or if all sources are received at the same frequency there is no need to convert to annual.

Income Received at Different Intervals• If there are multiple income

sources with more than one frequency, the LEA must annualize the income.

Best Practice Tip: If an application is within $100 of the IEG it is considered to be error-prone.

Flag it!

Processing Applications: Case Numbers• The determining official must

assure that the Assistance Program case number or other identifier is valid.• You are encouraged to review

the direct certification list to determine whether any of the applications with case numbers can be matched with students on the DC list.

• Only the SNAP case number may be used, not the EBT card number.

Practice Time

Approved Applications

• Households must be notified, either in writing or verbally of approval status. Email is acceptable.• The Determining Official must sign or initial and date each application

or date a cover sheet attached to a batch of applications.

Approved Applications: Documentation• The determining official must maintain documentation in a format

that includes:• Approval date;• Indicate the level of benefit for which each child is approved; and • Sign or initial the application.

Denied Applications

• If the household provides an incomplete application or does not meet the eligibility criteria for free or reduced price benefits, the application must be denied.

• Written notification of denial can be provided by mail or email to the adult signer of the application.• The notification must contain:• Reason for denial;• Right to appeal;• Instructions on how to appeal; and• Ability to re-apply at any time

during the school year.

Denied Applications: DocumentationDetermining Officials must record the eligibility determination and notification in a format that includes:- Denial date;- Reason for denial;- Date the denial notice was sent;

and- Signature or initials of the

determining official.

• Denial notices do not need to be sent for students who fail to reapply during the carryover period.

Duration of EligibilityYear Long Eligibility

• A child’s eligibility is in effect from the date of eligibility for the current school year until a new application is approved or denied or children are directly certified, up to 30 operating days into the subsequent school year.

Carryover of Previous Year’s EligibilityThe LEA must carryover eligibility and claim free or reduced price benefits served to:• Children from households with approved

applications on file from the previous year;• Newly enrolled children from households with

children who were approved for benefits in the LEA the previous year;

• Children from households directly certified for free benefits in the previous school year;

• Children in kindergarten who were enrolled in head start and under the jurisdiction of the same LEA during the previous school year; and

• Children previously approved who transferred from one school to another under the jurisdiction of the same LEA.

Verification of Applications

• The Verification process is a confirmation of eligibility for free and reduced price school meals. • Verification is only required when eligibility is determined through the

application process, not through direct certification conducted with an Assistance Program or with agencies or officials who documented Other Source Categorical Eligibility.

How to Establish the Number of Applications to Verify• You will take the total number of

applications you have on file as of October 1st. • You will then determine how

many applications to select for verification based on which method you are approved to conduct.

• Standard- 3% of all (pick from error prone)• Alternate 1- 3% of all • Alternate 2- 1% of all (pick from

error prone) and ½ of 1 percent of case number applications.

You must randomly select your applications!

Practice Time

Completion of Process

• You will notify the family of selection.• Request Information to verify what the application states.• Approve and Deny based on documentation

More training to come on this process!

Questions?

Thank you for your time. Please contact me if you have any questions!

Katie Embree-ClevelandKathryn.Embree-Cleveland@education.ky.gov