Finding Text
Finding 2023-001: Child Nutrition Meal Claims Reporting (50000)
Program Identification:
Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Agriculture
Pass‐through Entity: California Department of Education
Program Names: Child Nutrition Cluster:
National School Lunch Program (AL No. 10.555)
School Breakfast Program – Especially Needy (AL No. 10.553)
School Breakfast Program – Basic (AL No. 10.553)
Criteria: LEAs must submit monthly claims for reimbursement for meals and snacks served to eligible students within 60 days following the last day of the month covered by the claim. Each month's claim for reimbursement and all data used in the claims review process must be maintained on file. Accurate records must be maintained justifying all meals claimed and documenting that all Program funds were spent only on allowable Child Nutrition Program costs.
Condition: During our testing of compliance and controls over claims reporting, we identified that six months of claims had instances in which the District over or under reported meals served, as follows:
• August 2022 – overreported one free lunch.
• September 2022 – overreported one free lunch.
• September 2022 – underreported one free especially needy school breakfast.
• September 2022 – underreported one paid especially needy school breakfast.
• February 2023 – overreported one paid lunch.
• February 2023 – overreported one free especially needy school breakfast.
• February 2023 – overreported one paid especially needy school breakfast.
• March 2023 – overreported two free lunches.
• March 2023 – underreported fifty-six free especially needy school breakfast.
• March 2023 – underreported five reduced especially needy school breakfast.
• March 2023 – underreported one paid especially needy school breakfast.
• April 2023 – overreported one free lunch.
• April 2023 – overreported one paid lunch.
• April 2023 – overreported one paid especially needy school breakfast.
• May 2023 – overreported one paid especially needy school breakfast.
Context: Errors were noted in six months out of the ten months reported.
Questioned Costs: In total the District under claimed $137.54 for all six months.
Cause: Lack of review process to ensure all corrections to meals served are captured and verified prior to the claim being submitted.
Effect: Errors can result in potential overclaiming or under claiming of meals, as well as the District being over reimbursed or under reimbursed for meals served.
Recommendation: We recommend the District implement a review process to ensure that all corrections have been confirmed and captured prior to CNIPs claims being submitted.
Views of Responsible Officials: We will implement a review process to confirm all corrections before submitting claims for reimbursement, ensuring compliance with the 60-day claim submission requirement and accurate record-keeping. This will guarantee that Program funds are spent solely on allowable Child Nutrition Program costs.