The purpose of this message is to inform School Nutrition Program Operators that the California Department of Education (CDE) has recently restored the state meal reimbursement rate for the School Nutrition Programs for May and June 2019.
Background
California’s annual budget requires the CDE to prorate the amount of state reimbursement provided to eligible recipients in the event that funds appropriated in the Budget Act are insufficient. In fiscal year 2018-19, state funds were not sufficient to reimburse all eligible meals at the prescribed rate(s). Therefore, the CDE reduced the statutory reimbursement rate of $0.2368 to $0.2194 for May and June 2019 and to $0.1800 for remaining June 2019 claims, for every free and reduced-price (F/RP) breakfast and lunch served.
In fiscal year 2020-21, the CDE was appropriated additional funding to retroactively provide full reimbursement for all eligible meals served in fiscal year 2018-19. An additional payment will therefore be processed for all eligible meals that received a reimbursement of less than $0.2368.
Payment Timeframe
Operators can expect to receive payment checks for the restored reimbursement rate by Spring 2021.
Payment Identification
The information below will assist in identifying these payments within the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS)
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Once logged into CNIPS, select school year 2018-2019, then on the Claims Tab in the blue menu bar select “Payment Summary” under Item. In the Payment Summary screen, there are four fields that will help provide important details regarding the $0.2368 restored rate payments, including the Schedule Number, State Year, Fund Authority, and Account Description.
- Schedule Number: This is found on the far left of the Payment Summary screen.
- State Year: This is to the right of the Schedule Number and should indicate 2018-2019.
- Fund Authority: This is found on the far right of the Payment Summary screen. CNIPS will reflect that these payments are made from State Prop 98 funds.
- Account Description: This is found on the second line of the Payment Summary screen, directly below the Schedule Number.
Contact Information
If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact your Child Nutrition Fiscal Services Analyst using the analyst directory information provided on the Nutrition Services web page.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Main Web Page
The California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Services Division (NSD) recognizes the challenge of providing nutritious meals to children and adults everyday while trying to keep up with the numerous changes, flexibilities, and nationwide waivers that have gone into effect over the past several months. As part of receiving the national waivers, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires program operators to have a written plan in place to ensure program integrity while operating under numerous COVID-19 waivers. The NSD has developed a Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Integrity Plan guide to support program operators.
When operating under the various waivers, program operators are required to maintain written procedures that outline plans to ensure the integrity of the CACFP while serving and distributing meals to a child or adult during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CACFP Integrity Plan guide assists program operators in the development of standard operating procedures (integrity plan) and helps identify some of the required documents program operators must collect and maintain to meet CACFP requirements while implementing the nationwide waivers. This guide also provides prompting questions that program operators should consider and answer when developing an integrity plan to ensure their procedures and documents address and meet all CACFP requirements related to preparing, serving, distributing and claiming meals served to children in their CACFP.
Additionally, the USDA Policy Memorandum SP 05-2021, CACFP 04-2021, SFSP 04-2021: Questions and Answers relating to the Nationwide Waiver to Allow Summer Food Service Program and Seamless Summer Option Operations during School Year 2020–21 was issued on January 5, 2021. Question Number 2 addresses flexibilities during the pandemic to the federal requirements for maintaining attendance records for At-risk Centers in accordance with Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 226.17a(o)(1). This policy memo is available on the USDA Food and Nutrition Service web page.
The CACFP Integrity Plan Guide is attached to this email and is available on the Resources tab of the CDE COVID-19 Guidance in the Child Nutrition Programs web page. It is also available in the Download Forms section of the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS), Form ID CACFP 91.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact your Field Services Unit (FSU) Child Nutrition Consultant (CNC). The FSU CNC list is available in the Download Forms section of the CNIPS, Form ID Caseload.