Community Eligibility Provision — USDA

Community Eligibility Provision — USDA

1. The new Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows high
poverty schools to offer both breakfast and lunch at no charge to
all students while eliminating the traditional school meal
application process for the approved schools.

2. CEP uses a percentage of “identified” students for program
eligibility.

3. “Identified” students include only students who are directly
certified for free meals because they are from 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 qualified for free school meals without
submitting a school meal application because of their status
as being in foster care, enrolled in Head Start, homeless,
runaway, or migrant students.

4. “Non-identified” students are students who are approved to
receive free or reduced-price meals based on household
income listed on applications. These students do not contribute
to the CEP calculation.

5. Sulphur Springs ISD has one campus, at this time, which meets
all the recommended requirements for CEP.

6. Early Childhood Learning Center will be able to qualify 94% of
the meals served, breakfast and lunch, at a free status. The
free reimbursement received for this high percentage will off-set
the cost of the remaining 6%.

7. Starting in 2014-2015, ECLC students will receive universal
free breakfast and lunch.

8. Additional campuses can be added yearly as their “identified”
student population increases.