To assist school districts involved in either administrative consolidation or administrative annexation, the following guidelines need to be followed by the receiving, affected or consolidated school district federal child nutrition programs.
AGREEMENT AND POLICY STATEMENT
To operate a federal child nutrition program for the 2004-05 school year (SY), a school district must take action to fulfill the agreement and policy statement requirements based on the state board approval status:
ADMINISTRATIVE ANNEXATION:
The receiving school district will complete the 2004-05 Renewal Agreement for the federal breakfast, lunch, afterschool snack and/or seamless summer programs. The receiving school district should contact the affected school district and secure a copy of the individual Schedule A that has been sent to the affected school district. All affected districts were sent the individual schedule for the district and will be responsible for providing a copy to the receiving district. The receiving school district will either (1) correct their current Receiving District Schedule A and attach the Annexed District Schedule A listing affected schools with appropriate changes such as meal prices, personnel, etc., OR (2) create a new Schedule A using the form attached below to incorporate all receiving and annexed schools into a SINGLE Schedule A, SY 2004-05 for the receiving district.
Please do NOT hold these renewal documents pending personnel changes, meal price changes, telephone or contact information changes, etc. If the receiving school district’s Renewal Schedule A, SY 2004-05 contains the old LEA numbers for annexed schools, the district will notify CNU in writing when the new LEA numbers are issued.
DEADLINE: Please submit all paperwork for the Renewal Agreement as soon as possible but no later than July 1, 2004. In order to pay the reimbursement claims to any school district for the next school year all school districts data must be in the system. Please call your current area specialist or Karen Franklin for assistance with this process.
NEW ADMINISTRATIVE CONSOLIDATED DISTRICT:
The NEW administrative consolidated school district will complete a new “Revised” ORIGINAL AGREEMENT 2001-02 SCHOOL YEAR BETWEEN THE SCHOOL FOOD AUTHORITY AND ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION with the SCHEDULE A for School Year 2004-05 for the federal breakfast, lunch, afterschool snack and/or seamless summer programs. (Only consolidated districts will receive by MAIL the forms for a new Original Agreement and Policy Statement.) The merging school districts shall combine Schedule A’s of all merging districts into one Schedule A for continuation all existing programs. Should the new school district wish to add a program such as Afterschool Snacks or Seamless Summer Program then the appropriate Schedule A’s will need to be completed and submitted with the new original base year agreement. All affected districts were sent the individual schedule for each district and will be responsible for providing a copy to the new administrative consolidated district.
Upon state approval of consolidation, the forms for the “Revised” ORIGINAL AGREEMENT 2001-02 SCHOOL YEAR BETWEEN THE SCHOOL FOOD AUTHORITY AND ARKANSAS DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION with the SCHEDULE A will be mailed to the new consolidated district. Please complete the Agreement and complete/correct the Schedule A to report the school information, as the district will be operated during the 2004-2005 school year. Depending upon the number of districts and schools merging, the new district will use either the Schedule A Change Form or create a new Schedule A with the attached Excel document to incorporate all affected schools into a single Schedule A for the new district for school year 2004-05.
Policy Statement for Free and Reduced Price Meals for 2004-2005 School Year (Policy Statement), Attachment A: Civil Rights and Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Attachment B: Meal Count/Collection Procedure Checklist, Attachment C: Procurement Procedure are also enclosed.
Please complete the Policy Statement, the attachments, the Agreement and the Schedule A and return to:
Wanda Shockey, Director
Child Nutrition Unit, ADE
2020 W 3rd Street, Suite 404
Little Rock, AR 72205
Please do NOT hold these renewal documents pending personnel changes, meal price changes, telephone or contact information changes, etc. If the receiving school district’s Renewal Schedule A contains the old LEA numbers for schools, the district will notify CNU in writing when the new LEA numbers are issued.
DEADLINE: Please submit all paperwork for the Renewal Agreement as soon as possible but no later than July 1, 2004. In order to pay the reimbursement claims to any school district for the next school year, all school districts data must be in the system. Please call your current area specialist or Karen Franklin for assistance with this process.
THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS APPLY TO ALL DISTRICTS THAT ARE INVOLVED IN ADMINISTRATIVE ANNEXATION OR CONSOLIDATION:
SEVERE NEED BREAKFAST REIMBURSEMENT
Current school districts eligible for Severe Need Breakfast reimbursement have been mailed letters with applications and instructions. Eligibility for Severe Need Reimbursement is by SCHOOL not by district. The letter to eligible school districts provides an opportunity to request in writing an extension. This request must be submitted by May 31, 2004 and the application must be received and approved prior to the payment of the district’s first claim for reimbursement for the 2004-05 School Year. Please call Jimmy Burks at (501) 324-9502.
SAFETY NET REIMBURSEMENT
Receiving districts or new consolidated districts will be notified by an ADE Director’s Memo in July if they are eligible for safety net reimbursement. The calculations to combine the data of previous districts will be completed by CNU, ADE according to USDA instructions. School districts must claim the additional two cents reimbursement, but do not have to apply for these additional funds. The safety net reimbursement is based on 60% of the lunch participation eligible for free and reduced price meals in the second preceding year (SY 2002-03).
FREE AND REDUCED-PRICE MEAL APPLICATIONS
The free and reduced price meal applications for the students in affected schools are to be transferred to the receiving districts. This will ensure that these students retain their eligibility for free or reduced price meals during the approval process for new applications. USDA regulations allow meals to be served based on the student’s last years’ status for up to 20 school days after school starts. Other siblings listed on the approved application may also be served on last years’ eligibility status. It is suggested that original applications be copied and placed in student's confidential file, if student is transferring to a new school within the district. Originals for SY 2003-04 need to be maintained to substantiate that year’s claims for reimbursement.
Free and Reduced Meal Applications for the current year plus three previous years must be retrievable by school for audit purposes. These documents will need to be properly labeled by school year and by school and/or district. The Receiving District and/or New Consolidated District will be responsible for maintaining these files from the affected districts.
RECORDS AND FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS
All other records of the school lunch, breakfast, afterschool snack or summer programs should be maintained for audit purposes for five years after the final financial transaction. Please refer to page 7 and 8 of the Original 2001-02 Agreement for a list of records that must be maintained.
For the affected/closing administrations the ending cash balance, after all revenue is received and all bills are paid for the previous school year, will be transferred to the receiving or new school district Non-Profit Food Service Account.
FOOD SERVICE KITCHEN AND CAFETERIA EQUIPMENT:
Ownership of the food service/cafeteria equipment in the school facilities and/or district shall be transferred to the receiving district or the new consolidated school district. An inventory with estimated value of equipment and an audit trail of equipment items must be maintained at the new district. If unneeded items are sold, proceeds are to be deposited in the new school district Non-Profit Food Service Account.
FOOD INVENTORIES – Purchased and Commodity
Food service personnel from affected school districts will provide final inventories of purchased foods and commodity foods. Purchased and commodity food inventories must include cost per item to calculate the total cost of inventories. The value of the inventory and the physical accountability will be transferred to the receiving or new consolidated district.
Please contact Don Griffin at the Commodity Distribution Office, Arkansas Department of Human Services, don.griffin@arkansas.gov or (501) 371-1412, for instructions on renewal and/or revision of the USDA Commodity Program Agreement, delivery schedules, and commodity orders for next year. Commodities are transferred where students are transferred. If commodities are transferred, the commodity office will require notification. Commodity allocations will follow students therefore, receiving or new consolidated districts will be given allocations to include affected schools for next year’s deliveries.
If there are any questions, please contact your area specialist, Wanda Shockey or Barbara Smith, Assistant Director, CN Program Operations at (501) 324-9502.