LCFF Legislative Change

The purpose of this notice is to inform local educational agencies (LEAs) operating schools with Provision 2 or Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) status of an important legislative change affecting data collection of Free and Reduced-Priced Meal (FRPM) eligibility. The change affects schools that have elected to establish a base year for purposes of the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and only collect eligibility data once every four years.

Assembly Bill 176 (Chapter 998, Statutes of 2024) included an amendment to Education Code (EC) Section 42238.01(a)(2)(B): The school may include between base years eligibility determinations, any current or newly enrolled pupils who are determined to be eligible for free or reduced-price meals.

This change allows Provision 2 and CEP schools to redetermine student FRPM eligibility for LCFF purposes during non-base years with the Alternative Income Form (AIF). This means that Provision 2 and CEP schools may collect AIFs for students whose FRPM eligibility changed after the LCFF base year.

This change supports the new Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (SUN Bucks) Program that provides benefits to students based on individual eligibility for FRPM (SUN Bucks Announcement).

As a result, the CDE issued guidance in CALPADS (California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System) Update Flash #269 and CALPADS Update Flash #282 that LEAs may accept AIFs during the school year from existing families regardless of whether it is the LEA’s LCFF base year, so that students who became eligible after the LCFF base year may receive SUN Bucks benefits. For those students who meet income eligibility requirements based on information obtained through the submittal of an AIF in a non LCFF base year, the LEA will need to submit FRPM records to CALPADS for those students to receive SUN Bucks benefits.

For the SUN Bucks program, a student is eligible for 2024 Sun Bucks benefits who had an FRPM record open in 2023–24, or who:

• Enrolled for the first time at a school participating in a federal meals program from July 1, 2024 – August 31, 2024, and submitted a National School Lunch Program (NSLP) application or AIF by August 31, 2024 (this mostly includes students in grades transitional kindergarten or kindergarten who are enrolling in a California public school for the first time in 2024−25), or
• During the 2023–24 school year either did not submit, or submitted an NSLP application or AIF but whose income changed during the eligibility period and submitted an updated application/form by August 31, 2024.

Students with an FRPM record start date on or after July 1, 2024, will also be eligible for 2025 SUN Bucks benefits and will be included in the 2024–25 Unduplicated Pupil Count for LCFF.

The LCFF Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and the Alternative Income Forms webpages have been updated to reflect the amendments to EC Section 42238.01:

• LCFF FAQs
• Alternative Income Forms

LEAs with Provision 2 status and/or CEP schools using the LCFF base year option should communicate to families that they need to submit a new AIF if their FRPM eligibility has changed since the base year, for purposes of SUN Bucks and LCFF funding.

If you have questions about SUN Bucks, please contact the Nutrition Services Division at SummerEBT@cde.ca.gov (Note: this email address is not for household inquiries about SUN Bucks). Household inquiries about SUN Bucks should be directed to the California Department of Social Services customer service help line at 1-877-328-9677.

If you have questions about LCFF, please contact the Principal Apportionment Section by email at PASE@cde.ca.gov or by phone at 916-324-4541.