Community Eligibility Provision

About the Program

The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) provides an opportunity for schools and local educational agencies (LEAs) in high poverty areas to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students without the burden of collecting and processing school meal applications for free and reduced price meals. CEP was a key provision of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010.

Am I Eligible to Participate in CEP?

To be eligible for CEP, an LEA, group of schools, or school must:

  • Ensure that at least 40 percent of enrolled students are identified students
  • Participate in both the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP); and
  • Serve lunches and breakfasts, at no charge, to all students.

Identified Students

CEP is available to LEAs and schools with 40 percent or more “identified students” as of the most recent April 1. Identified students are those directly certified for free meals without a school meal application. Students can be directly certified through:

  • Participation in Assistance Programs: a child (or any member of the child’s household) receives benefits from SNAP, FDPIR, or TANF, as determined through direct certification,
  • Other Source Categorically Eligible Designation: a child is enrolled in a Federally- funded Head Start or comparable State-funded Head Start or pre-kindergarten program, or is a homeless, runaway, migrant, or foster child.

Program Benefits

Schools implementing the provision have experienced great success, allowing them to make numerous improvements to their school nutri-tion programs.

  • Easing administrative burden.
  • Increasing participation.
  • Improving efficiency.
  • Eliminating stigma.
  • Fighting childhood hunger.

CEP Details

Calculating the ISP

  • To determine the ISP, LEAs and schools divide the number of identified students as of April 1 by the number of enrolled students as of April 1, and then multiply by 100.
  • SFAs can participate at all schools or at a group of schools within the SFA

Claiming Rate

  • For schools participating in CEP, the ISP multiplied by 1.6 equals the percentage of meals that can be claimed at the free rate. The remaining meals served, up to 100 percent, are reimbursed at the paid rate.

Grouping

  • For schools participating in CEP, the ISP multiplied by 1.6 equals the percentage of meals that can be claimed at the free rate. The remaining meals served, up to 100 percent, are reimbursed at the paid rate.

April 15 Notification and Data Collection Requirements

  • LEAs must provide current year school level eligibility data to State agencies

June 30 Election Deadline

  • No later than June 30, interested and eligible LEAs must notify their State agency of their intent to elect CEP

Implementation

  • For SFA wide participation the SFE takes the total number of identified students divided buy the total number of student enrolled in the SFA to determine the ISP
  • For partial participation the SFA takes the number of students identified at the selected schools divided by the enrollment for the selected schools

Participation Length

  • CEP is a 4 year contract
  • The claiming percentage can increase during the contract if the ISP increases during the 4 year cycle
  • Participating LEAs or schools that continue to meet the 40 percent threshold as of April 1 in Year 4 of the 4-year cycle are able to, with the State agency’s authorization, immediately begin another 4-year cycle in the following school year. The ISP must be established using the most recent April 1 data