Severe Need breakfast reimbursement rates will be available for the 2005-06 school year. For the 2004-05 school year this was an additional $.23 for each free or reduced price breakfast (the rate for 2005-06 school year will be announced after July 1, 2005).
REQUIREMENTS:
To qualify for the Severe Need Breakfast Reimbursement each SCHOOL (not school district) must meet the following criteria:
1. The school is currently participating in or desires to begin a breakfast program.
2. Forty percent (40%) or more of the lunches served to students in a school in the second preceding year (2003-2004) were served free or at a reduced price.
DISTRICT DECISION:
Each school district MUST COMPLETE the attached District Response Form even if the district is NOT going to apply for the individual schools to participate in Severe Need. This must be signed by the school district superintendent and mailed to the Child Nutrition Office. Form's may be faxed to 501-324-9505, however the forms cannot be e-mailed.
APPLICATION PROCESS:
Each school district that DOES want to apply to participate in the severe need breakfast program MUST COMPLETE two copies of the attached Severe Need Application Form (listing ALL SCHOOLS regardless of whether a school may be eligible). All schools must be included without regard to criteria because the total of all lunch meals must match the total number of lunches claimed for the 2003-04 school year.
The Severe Need determination is made on a per school basis, not for the entire school district. Only those schools that maintain lunch counts by EACH INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL may be approved for this additional reimbursement. For example: If two LEA's (ie: Junior High and High School) use the same cafeteria and the meal counts are not reported separately for each LEA to the district level, NEITHER will be eligible for the special severe need rate regardless of the % of Free and Reduced Price participation. See the Note on the Instructions for Column 5 for help determining participation numbers.
REQUIRED FORMS TO RETURN TO CNU:
Print and return ONE completed and signed original "District Response Form" and (if the district does want to apply to participate) send TWO completed and signed original "Severe Need Application Form" before March 10, 2005 to:
Child Nutrition Unit
Arkansas Department of Education
ATTN: Jimmy Burks
2020 W. 3rd Street, Suite 404
Little Rock AR 72205
PAPERWORK REDUCTION:
In the past, schools were required to complete a justification report for these additional funds. Funds that were not justified as having been spent on breakfast had to be returned to USDA. Effective July 1, 2004, Section 201 of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 amended the criteria for determining a school’s eligibility for severe need breakfast reimbursement. Schools that apply and are approved for the severe need breakfast reimbursement rate are no longer required to justify the additional funds. This change eliminates most of the paperwork associated with the additional reimbursement.