December 17, 2010

TO: Sponsors of the National School Lunch Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program

RE: Effects of Busing on Area Eligibility

The Oregon Department of Education Child Nutrition Programs (ODE CNP) recently received guidance from USDA concerning the effect of busing on area eligibility in the Child and Adult Care Food Program, the Summer Food Service Program, and the Afterschool Snack and the Seamless Summer Option served through the National School Lunch Program.

Background:
There is a potential barrier to program participation when school children in public school systems are being assigned (by way of busing) to a school outside the attendance area of their neighborhood school. For purposes of this memorandum, USDA refers to this practice as busing.

Busing can have the effect of causing a site located in an area in which poor economic conditions exist to be designated as ineligible based on enrollment data, which has been adjusted to reflect student reassignments.

This situation may occur in any program in which site eligibility is based on the percentage of children eligible for free and reduced price meals in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). The effect of busing is especially significant to sites applying to participate in the Summer Food Service Program, in At-risk Afterschool Programs under the Child and Adult Care Food Program, and in the Seamless Summer Option and the Afterschool Snack Program under the NSLP. The eligibility of meal service sites for these situations is generally associated with the neighborhood school where the children live rather than where children actually attend school.

Policy Change:
To address this issue USDA determined that, in situations where public schools routinely bus children from their neighborhood school to other schools, site eligibility based on school data may be determined using one of two methods.

The Program sponsor may determine eligibility based on the enrollment/attendance data obtained for the school the children:

Program sponsors may determine a site to be area eligible in situations as described above only if they are able to document the percentage of children eligible for free and reduced price meals at each school before and after students are reassigned. The same method of determining site eligibility must be used for all sites participating under that program sponsor to avoid duplicate counting.

If you have questions concerning this memo, please contact your assigned Child Nutrition Specialist.

Sincerely,