This announcement reminds school food authorities (SFA) to complete their School Year 2024–25 verification process by November 15, 2024.
Verification Process
Verification is the annual, mandatory process that confirms the eligibility of a sample of approved household meal eligibility applications in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Each year, SFAs must select and verify a sample of applications approved for free and reduced-price (F/RP) meal benefits. The required sample size of applications that SFAs must verify is based on the number of approved applications the SFAs have on file as of October 1. Each SFA must complete the verification process of the required sample size of meal applications by November 15.
Please note that SFAs operating the Universal Meals Program (UMP) must still complete the verification process if they are using standard meal counting and claiming procedures at any sites.
For helpful resources in completing the verification process, such as the Verification Process training video, please visit the California Department of Education (CDE) Verification Materials web page.
For SFAs operating the UMP, verification letter templates are located in the Download Forms section of the California Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS)
, Form IDs Verification – 01, 02, and 03. These templates notify households that, regardless of the result of the verification process, all students will still have access to free meals at their school.
The verification process must confirm:
- The eligibility status of a student household’s monthly income, or
- If any member of the household is participating in CalFresh, California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids, the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations, or
- That the applying student is Other Source Categorically Eligible.
For further information on the verification process, please read the chapter on verification in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Eligibility Manual for School Meals on the USDA 2017 Edition of the Eligibility Manual for School Meals web page
.
Exceptions to the Verification Requirement
Verification efforts are not required:
- For students who have been directly certified as eligible for F/RP meals, including students who are documented as eligible migrant, runaway, homeless, foster, or participating in Head Start.
- For students in residential child care institutions (RCCI); however, SFAs must verify applications for any nonresidential students attending the RCCI’s school
- In schools participating in the Community Eligibility Provision
- In schools participating in Provision 2, except in base years, when SFAs collect applications for all students in attendance
Verification Sample Size and other Reminders
- To determine your sample size, visit the CDE verification Worksheet to Determine Verification Sample Size web page.
- For additional details on how to determine your sample size, visit the CDE Sample Size for Annual Verification web page.
- With the exception of verification for cause (the process in which SFAs verify questionable applications), SFAs must not verify more or less than the standard sample size or the alternate sample size (when eligible) and must not verify all applications. SFAs can only use verification for cause in addition to verifying the required sample. Learn more about verification for cause on the CDE Verification for Cause in the School Meals Program web page.
Verification Report
All SFAs must submit their annual verification report (VR) to the CDE in the CNIPS by January 15, 2025. The CDE will notify SFAs by email when the report is available in the CNIPS
. For details on how to complete the VR in the CNIPS visit the CDE Verification Reporting web page.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact your School Nutrition Programs (SNP) County Specialist. A current list of SNP Specialists is available on the SNP Specialist Directory web page. You can also email snpinfo@cde.ca.gov.