Direct Certification in the National School Lunch Program: State Implementation Progress, School Year 2013-2014. Report to Congress -- Summary. Report CN-14-DC

This report responds to the requirement of Public Law 110-246 to assess the effectiveness of State and local efforts to directly certify children for free school meals. Direct certification is a process conducted by the States and by local educational agencies (LEAs) to certify eligible children for free meals without the need for household applications. The 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC [Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children] Reauthorization Act required LEAs to establish systems to directly certify children from households that receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by school year (SY) 2008-2009. Children from households with incomes at or below 130 percent of the Federal poverty level are eligible for free school meals. Children from households with incomes between 130 and 185 percent of the poverty level are eligible for reduced-price meals. Certain homeless, runaway, and migrant children and children from households that receive benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) are deemed "categorically eligible" for free school meals. This report presents information on the outcomes of direct certification for SY 2013-2014. The report estimates the number of school-age SNAP participants and the number of children directly certified with SNAP for free school meals in each State. The ratio of these figures is a measure of the success of State and local systems to directly certify participating SNAP children. The report also estimates the number of all SNAP, TANF, and FDPIR participants certified for free school meals, either by direct certification or by application. This provides a more comprehensive measure of State success in certifying categorically eligible children for free school meals. [For the full report, see ED616761.]