Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Meals topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Dining services reports stable participation, recommends against district-wide CEP this year amid uncertainty over direct certification
Summary
Dining services reported a roughly 59.8% meal-participation rate for 2024-25, described operational improvements after a transition to METS, and recommended against adopting district-wide Community Eligibility Provision this year because current CEP modeling would reduce net revenue and federal direct-certification rules are changing.
District dining-services staff told the finance committee on June 9 that participation in school meals is roughly 59.8% this year and that, after transitioning to a new food-service management company (METS), the program achieved small operational gains and replacement of aging equipment.
Frank Bernd, business manager, and Ashley Kelly of Dining Services summarized a year of operational work: equipment repairs and replacements, new small wares, quarterly student focus groups and planned student tastings to raise participation. Participation was reported at about 59.8%, with a district target of 64%.
On federal meal policy, staff reviewed the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) and the district's eligibility calculations. Under CEP, schools provide free meals to all students when their identified-student percentage (ISP) meets the federal threshold. District presenters showed building-level ISP figures and a districtwide projection indicating that, under current data, district participation in CEP would create a net revenue loss because the district would forfeit cash reimbursements now received for paid students.
District staff also warned of proposed changes to the federal direct-certification process that would reduce the number of students automatically eligible for free meals and raise the CEP ISP threshold in some proposals; staff called those changes a significant uncertainty for future CEP calculations. “The direct-cert piece is what's really changing,” a Dining Services speaker said, noting that if fewer students are directly certified the district would need to collect more free-and-reduced applications and could see higher lunch debt and administrative burden.
Given the modeling and federal uncertainty, the presentation concluded with a staff recommendation not to adopt CEP district-wide this year, although staff said individual schools that already meet ISP thresholds could be considered if the board wanted to split pools by building. Staff also highlighted the district's summer food service sites (the largest number of sites in recent years) and plans to increase outreach and partnerships to raise participation.
Quotes and specifics: Frank Bernd said the district has focused on equipment and continuity after switching food-service managers: “We did a serious look at all of our equipment.” Ashley Kelly explained the role of direct certification and the effect of proposed federal changes: "Those are all things that . . . we need to keep in the back of our mind that the future is very uncertain." The district projected that CEP under current claimed participation would have produced a net financial loss for 2024-25.
Next steps: staff plan tastings, partnership work with health and wellness and athletics, outreach to increase participation, and continued monitoring of federal proposals on direct certification and CEP.
