LETTER TO PARENTS At or near the beginning of each school year, all parents of children attending school will be notified by letter about the policies governing the free and reduced‐price meal programs. At that time, they will also be provided an application form. Families may submit applications at any time during the school year.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS The policies also will be provided for public announcement to local newspapers, radio and television stations at or near the beginning of each school year.
UNIFORMITY OF PROGRAM APPLICATION
The policies and guidelines of the National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Programs will be applied objectively and uniformly to all students.
RIGHT TO APPEAL Families whose applications for free or reduced‐price lunches are rejected have the right to appeal the decision. Such appeal must be made Executive Director for District Operations, who, as the hearing official, will conduct a hearing of the case and make the decision as to its disposition.
HEARING PROCEDURE The hearing procedure to be followed when an appeal is made or when the continued eligibility of any child for a free or reduced‐price meal is challenged shall conform to the guidelines prescribed by the United States Department of Agriculture.
Any child whose eligibility for free or reduced‐price meals is challenged will continue to receive the meals to which he is entitled under the eligibility standards during the time the hearing is pending or being held.
ELIGIBLE STUDENT IDENTIFICATION
There shall be no discrimination against any child eligible for free or reduced‐price meals. Their names will not be published, posted, or announced in any manner, except as allowed by law. There shall be no overt identification of such children by the use of special tokens or tickets or by any other means.
NON‐DISCRIMINATION No child eligible for a free or reduced‐price meal will be required to do the following:
1. Work for his meal.
2. Use a separate dining room.
3. Go through a separate entrance or cafeteria line.
4. Eat the meal at a different time or eat a different lunch meal from the meal sold to children paying the full price of such meal.
STUDENT TRANSFERS If a child transfers from one school to another under the jurisdiction of
the school district, his eligibility for free or reduced‐price meals will be transferred to and will be honored by the receiving school.
APPLICATION RECORD KEEPING
The District Food Services office shall maintain files of all applications submitted, documentation of action taken, and eligible student listings for a period of five (5) years after the end of the fiscal year to which such applications pertain.
ANNUAL APPLICATION AGREEMENT
The District agrees that for each school approved by the Texas Education Agency it will conduct the agreed‐upon program(s) in accordance with the Texas Department Agriculture regulations and, specifically, will conform to the agreements outlined in the annual Application‐Agreement for National School lunch and Breakfast Programs in the conduct of each program. A copy of this document will be available for study in the District food services office.
RESPONSIBILITY FOR DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY
The responsibility for making determinations of the eligibility of a family for free or reduced‐price meals for its children is delegated to, and shall be implemented by, the Food Services Director. In emergency situations, the school principal may make eligibility determinations in accordance with TDA Regulations.
BASIS FOR ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATIONS
Eligibility determination shall be based only on complete applications. Critical data include:
1. Number in the family;
2. Income of the family;
3. Social security numbers of all adult members of the household, or the notation that a member of the household has no social security number if that member has no social security number; and
4. Signature of an adult member of the family.
NOTIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY Benefits will be approved or denied within ten (10) operating days of submission of the completed application. If denied, the family will be notified by letter clearly stating the reason(s) for rejection. This notification will inform the family of its right of appeal and will outline the procedure for making such an appeal.
SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION BY NON‐FAMILY MEMBER
In cases where for various reasons a parent or other adult members of the family do not initiate a request, the classroom teacher, principal, visiting teacher, or other official may complete an application for children known to be eligible.
TEMPORARY APPROVALS Temporary approval may be granted in extreme cases; for example, when a family has no current income. However, applications of this nature must be filed separately and re‐evaluated on a periodic basis, not to exceed sixty (60) days. Information received as a part of such re‐evaluations must be noted as such and attached to the application.
REQUIRED RECORDS The District Food Services office shall maintain and shall submit to the cafeteria manager a list of all students eligible for free or reduced‐price meals. This list shall be updated as determinations are made.
ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA The District shall use the current USDA Free and Reduced‐Price Eligibility income Scale to determine student eligibility for Free and Reduced‐Price meals.
SPECIAL MILK PROGRAM The District elects not to offer free milk to students approved for free meals under the Special Milk program.
CONFIDENTIALITY The Healthy Meals for Healthy Americans Act of 1994, P.L. 103‐448, amended the National School Lunch Act (NSLA) to allow specific limited disclosure of information about free and reduced‐price meal eligibility. The disclosure limitations apply to all Child Nutrition programs including the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program (SBP), and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP).
Disclosure of eligibility information about participants beyond that authorized by statute is permitted only with written parent/guardian consent. The entity receiving the information from the District may use the information only for the purpose authorized and may not share the information further. The entity must enter into a written agreement with District prior to obtaining the information. The disclosure limitations apply to entities external to the District and to other programs and departments within the District.
AGGREGATE INFORMATION Providing aggregate information that does not identify individuals continues to be permitted without consent or agreement.
PENALTIES FOR IMPROPER DISCLOSURE
The NSLA establishes a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment of not more that one year, or both, for publishing, divulging, disclosing or making any eligibility information known in any manner or extent not authorized by federal law. This includes the disclosure of eligibility information by one entity authorized under the NSLA to receive the information to any other entity, even if that entity would otherwise be
authorized to receive the information directly from the District.
DISCLOSURE AUTHORITY The ECISD Food Services office shall be the official record‐keeper of all District student free and reduced‐price eligibility information. Any disclosure of this information, not specifically authorized by this Regulation, must be approved by the Director of Food Services, or designee, before the information may be released.
DISCLOSURE WITHIN THE DISTRICT
As the District’s determining agency, the Food Services office may use eligibility information only for the purpose authorized and may not share the information further, even with other District programs and departments, unless the procedures in this Regulation are followed fully.
AGREEMENT REQUIREMENTS Prior to disclosing any free and reduced‐price application information for purposes other than the Child Nutrition programs, the District shall enter into an agreement with the entity requesting the information. The agreement (See Exhibit A) shall:
1. Be signed by the District and the receiving entity;
2. Identify the receiving entity;
3. Describe the information to be disclosed and how it will be used;
4. Describe how the information will be protected from unauthorized use and disclosure;
5. Inform the receiving entity that the information may only be used for the purposes described; and
6. Inform the receiving entity that further use or disclosure to other parties is prohibited and that a violation of this provision may result in a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment of not more than one year or both.
INFORMATION THAT MAY BE DISCLOSED WITHOUT CONSENT
The District may disclose, without parental or guardian consent, participants’ names and eligibility status (whether they are eligible for free or reduced‐price meals) to persons directly connected with the administration or enforcement of the following programs:
1. Federal education programs, such as Title 1 and the National
Assessment of Educational Progress;
2. State health or state education programs provided the programs are administered by a state agency or a local education agency. (Examples: PEIMS, grant proposals). Representatives of state or local education agencies evaluating the results and compliance with student assessment programs would be covered only to the extent that the assessment
program was established at the state, not local level.
3. Federal, state or local means‐tested nutrition programs with eligibility standards comparable to the National School Lunch Program.
The programs listed above are required to enter into an annual written agreement with the Food Services Department before obtaining the information. (See Exhibit A)
Such disclosure allowance applies only to the names and eligibility status. No other information (i.e., address, phone number, social security number, family size, or any other information taken from the application form) may be disclosed without specific written parent/guardian consent.
CONSENT STATEMENT REQUIREMENTS
The parent/guardian consent statement (See Exhibit B) must be in writing and must conform to the following requirements:
1. The consent statement must identify the information that will be shared and how the information will be used.
2. The consent statement must be signed and dated. In the case of a child participant, the consent statement must be signed by the parent or guardian of the applicant household.
3. The consent statement must state that failing to sign the consent statement will not affect eligibility or participation for the school meal program(s) and that the information will not be shared by the receiving program with any other entity or program.
4. The parent/guardian/adult must be able to limit consent to only those programs with which he or she wishes to share information.
DISCLOSURE WITH CONSENT THROUGH THE APPLICATION PROCESS AND WITH AGREEMENT
The District may elect to obtain parent/guardian disclosure
consent for specific large‐scale programs. These programs shall be specifically listed on the free and reduced‐price meal application form and allow the parent/guardian to deny disclosure approval
for any or all programs listed. Examples of such programs are fee‐ based school transportation, fee‐based summer school, advanced placement exams, early education programs, and school uniforms or standard attire.
In order to obtain free and reduced‐price eligibility information for use in these programs, the administrator in charge of the program, campus, or department must complete an annual agreement with the Food Services Department. (See Exhibit A)
DISCLOSURE TO NON‐DISTRICT ENTITIES
OTHER ALLOWED DISCLOSURES REQUIRING WRITTEN CONSENT AND AGREEMENT
Prior to obtaining any free and reduced‐price information other than aggregate information, the requesting non‐District entity must enter into an annual written agreement (See Exhibit A) with the District. This procedure applies whether or not the disclosure requires parent/guardian consent. (See Exhibit B)
The disclosure of participant’s names and any eligibility information that identifies them individually to programs or individuals not specifically authorized by the NSLA requires written parent/guardian consent. Some programs that may request names and eligibility information for which parent/guardian consent prior to disclosure is required include:
1. Federal health programs, such as Medicaid or the Children’s
Health Insurance Program (CHIP);
2. Local health and local education programs and other local level activities (for example, the disclosure of children’s eligibility for free and reduced‐price meals to determine children’s eligibility for free text books or free eye glasses from the Lion’s Club requires consent when these are local initiatives and not state programs); and
3. Any other federal, state or local program or individual not outlined in this policy.